An econometric analysis of deficiencies noted in port state control inspections

Abstract

The factors to consider in selecting which vessels to board for port state control (PSC) inspections are crucial. This paper tries to identify these factors using 4080 reported PSC inspections from the Swedish Maritime Administration for the period 1996–2001. It relies on count data models and compares results from the Poisson, negative binomial, random effect and random parameters models. The results suggest that three factors are the main determinants of the number of reported deficiencies: the age at inspection, the flag of registry and the type of ships. Conversely, the year when the inspection occurs does not seem to be a significant factor. Estimations also stress that the relationship between the age at inspection and the number of deficiencies detected is not similar for different vessel types. For instance, the number of deficiencies detected decreases for chemical carriers and Ro–Ro passenger vessels older than 25 and 22 years old, while for instance the effect is rather small for tanker and bulk carriers and only occurs when vessels are older than 35 years.