Discussing about Detention & its countermeasures for Ship PSC Inspection

Discussing about Detention & its countermeasures for Ship PSC Inspection

 

PSC, Port State Control. Purpose of PSC inspection: The government agency of the port state or its authorized person inspects the technical conditions and capabilities of foreign ships and crews (especially related to safety and pollution prevention) to ensure that the ship is at sea: Safety of life and property; reduce pollution of the marine environment. (Mainly the inspection of ship safety and prevention of ship pollution). If there are serious defects, the Maritime Safety Administration has the right to detain the ship and stop the operation of the ship. Therefore, before sailing, the shipowner will ask the classification society personnel to conduct an inspection, and then the Maritime Safety Administration will go up for inspection and allow the ship to operate after being qualified. Refusal to issue a certificate, stop the ship from sailing, make modifications, and make a record. If the ship of the classification society is stranded, it will affect the reputation of the classification society!

 

There are both subjective and objective reasons for the detention of ships, which can be summarized as follows:

 

1. Human factors, poor leadership, unclear responsibilities; not paying attention to thoughts, not strong sense of responsibility; poor mental outlook, low level of business; ineffective self-examination and self-correction, insufficient shore support.

 

2. The environment is unfamiliar, the port state is not well understood, and the surveyor is not well received; unable to communicate effectively with PSCO, and are not familiar with the convention rules; the crew is not well-dressed, and the inspection site has no obvious signs.

 

3. Incomplete information, no inspection procedures, no self-check list; no account records, lack of navigation books; invalid ship certificates, incomplete system documents; no convention style, missing crew certificates.

 

4. Improper methods, failure to conduct pre-sailing inspections, incorrect statutory records; non-standard maintenance, and concealment of hidden equipment hazards; failure to comply with welcome inspection procedures, failure to pass life-saving and fire drills; failure to implement ISM, GMDSS, Y2K, etc. To prevent ships from being detained, efforts must be made in the above five aspects.

 

 

Preventive measures and countermeasures

1. Grasp the main points of PSC inspection in each region. The author has gone through the US inspection, the Australian inspection, and the daily inspection respectively, and believes that the inspections in these areas are relatively strict and will definitely be targeted. From the author’s experience, the USCG. inspection pays more attention to emergency drills and other aspects, such as fire fighting and life-saving drills. Generally, USCG will assume a fire in a certain location and require the crew to exercise according to actual combat; the inspection scope of the Australian inspection is relatively comprehensive, focusing on the overall situation of the ship. Generally, PSCO will check item by item according to the CHECK LIST, and ask questions at any time. In recent years, the inspection of the level of compliance with the MLC convention has also begun to intensify, such as the crew’s living quarters, meals, hot and cold water, and entertainment. The facilities have paid some attention; the daily inspection is more careful and strict in the inspection of certificates and nautical books and materials, and the structural defects of the ship are also the focus, and the implementation of the ISM Code.

 

2. Make preparations for inspection in advance and carry out self-inspection and self-correction of defects in advance. Special attention is paid to the correction of deficiencies in ship life-saving equipment, ship fire protection and ISM. These deficiencies account for more than 50% of the deficiencies issued by PSC and can easily lead to ship detention.

 

3. Cooperate with inspections in a friendly and cooperative manner. China is a country of etiquette and has always been warm and hospitable. When officials have questions or discover defects, they must actively cooperate with them to give reasonable explanations. Never argue or argue with officials. They must be calm and fix the problems in a timely manner.

  

In short, reducing the PSC detention rate is the common responsibility of shipping companies, flag states and classification societies. The level of detention rate is obviously related to the reputation and interests of the three. As long as we really pay attention to the work of port inspection, as long as we take it seriously, the number of PSC detentions will definitely be improved. In order to achieve our common goal of "making ships safer and the ocean cleaner", we will reduce the port state inspection detentions of ships. Rate and work together.