Please Note
The
International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments was adopted on Feb. 13, 2004, in London. See Don Pedro's summary of the
Ballast Water Convention.
Ships are required to be surveyed and certified, and may be inspected by Port State Control officers / surveyors who can:
- inspect the
Ballast Water Record Book, and/or
-
sample the ballast water.
The ship can be prevented from discharging its ballast if it's deemed to present a threat to the environment, without the ship thereby being unduly detained or delayed.
The European Maritime Safety Agency ( EMSA ) is monitoring
Port State Control 
( Directive 95/21 ) inside EU. In this respect EMSA is having the same function in the European Union as US Coast Guard has in USA. See list of
ships currently banned in European Union.
According to
European Union Green Paper (2006) it can be expected port state control standards will in the near future cover labour standards
applied on all ships calling at European Union ports, regardless of flag and seafarer's nationality.
EMSA has ( December 2008 ) published a note about "RuleCheck Port State Control System", a computerized
rules directory for PSC Officers / Surveyors to find all rules applicable for a certain kind of skip built at a certain date.
Paris
MOU and Tokyo MOU member countries at
end of April stated starting
September 9, 2009, they will jointly focus Port State Control Inspections of Life Saving appliances. This means lifeboats ( including mandatory inboard stores and equipment ), davits, lifting and lowering mechanisms, etc.
Tokyo MOU has
published the results of year 2009 inspections
. Most deficiencies were found with life-saving appliances and ships' maintenance ( ISM related ).
The South American Agreement on Port State Control (PSC), the
Vina del Mar MoU has advised that a
Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) will be carried out from 1 April 2010 to 30 June 2010. The campaign is intended to promote standards of safety and environmental protection with a view to ensuring:
- Compliance with requirements related to structure, subdivision and stability
- Provision to the Master and Officers of damage information concerning cargo and stability
- Proper familiarization of crew members with the steering system and the main and emergency electrical supply systems among others.
Get Viña del Mar's PSC officers'
checklist.
US Coast Guard has distributed a "Letter"
USCG CG 543 Policy Letter 09-01 with instructions for US port state control officers / surveyors to control documentary compliance on US and foreign flagged vessels.
Continuously up-dated list of
information sources on ISM (05/2008)
from the Maritime Knowledge Centre ( IMO ). With further links to the Code text and Code FAQ ( Frequently Asked Questions ).
India has tightened PSC by imposing stringent measures and has strengthened its
detention practice for non-compliance with the ISM code,
(0.5 MB, 11/2007).
European Union in 2007 drafted a Directive proposing ships flying a flag which has not yet been subject to the IMO audit may be penalized with
additional targeting by PSC surveyors More information on this in Shiptalk Newsletter:
Luxury Yacht Industry, July 2007.
Random inspections for asbestos in structure, equipment and ambient air onboard of ships are conducted in Dutch ports ( in 2010 ). These inspections are carried out during port state controls.
A specialized company has been contracted to verify that port state inspectors are not affected by hazardous materials. If high asbestos concentrations are found, it is highly likely that a ship is declared as "non-inspectable". This would lead to detention of the ship for an "indefinitiv" time. The ban of asbestos exists since a number of years under
SOLAS and a total ban will come into effect as of January 1st 2011.
DNV has in August 2009 published two documents for Ships' Masters, Officers, and Crew to assist in preparing for PSC surveys:
New Maritime Labour Convention
Maritime Labour Convention of 2006 -
Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQ ) and answers.
An overview of the new
Maritime Labour Convention, 2006. Get
full text of the Convention, available also in
( Arabic ) ,
( Chinese ),
Deutsch,
Español,
Français,
Português,
Pycckий.
At IMO conference at Manila (Philippines) in June 2010 the new Labour Convention caused an
amendment to STCW, the minimum weekly rest hours for seafarers was increased from 70 to 77. The basic minimum hours of rest in any 24 hr period remains 10 hrs. Maximum 2 rest periods with an interval of no more than 14 hrs. Requirements
do not apply in emergencies or
in other overriding operational conditions. These conditions are limited and cannot be applied continuously. The new amendments will come into force beginning of 2012 and will be controlled by PSC Surveyors.
A computer program has been developed to
track seafarers' working and rest hours, to do it by hand wouldn't be practical - the rules are too complicated for that.
US Department of Justice has released a report on a Hong Kong based ship management company has been indicted in Texas with obstruction of agency proceedings, making false statement and
failing to keep accurate pollution control records. If convicted of the conspiracy charge, both face up to five years in prison and a fine of USD 250,000. If convicted of obstruction of justice, the ship superintendent faces up to 20 years in prison and a USD 250,000 fine.
The Econometric Institute at Erasmus University in Holland published in October 2009 a
study of Port State Control regimes 1999-2004. By using a binary logistic regression [ "statistical correlation analysis" ] the study concludes the probability of detention of vessels does not depend on ships' age, size, flag,, classification society or owner but on differences in
Port States ( Governments ). This confirms many seafarers' and ship owners' "gut feeling" that
many Port States strictly follow Port State Control rules as they are intended while many others do not have any Port State Control at all.
Another study ( also 2009 ) was concerned with
Differences in Treatment of Safety Inspections.
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