Empirical analysis on port state control inspection for foreign-registered ships in Malaysian ports

Abstract

The selection of foreign-registered ships upon entering ports poses challenges to maritime authorities in ensuring the effectiveness of the port state control (PSC) inspection. The derived data from the ships' arrival notification system has been utilised in this study to identify the preferred vessel type for inspection. A combination of the Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) model and Entropy Weight Method (EWM) has been applied to discern the various types of ships that entered five selected ports in Malaysia and disclose the propensity of each vessel type. Based on 100,623 ship arrival records obtained for a period of five years (2015–2019), the types of ships were identified, analysed, scored, and graded. The result shows that the oil tanker has the highest value of grey relational grade for Bintulu port while the passenger ship is in the pole position for Penang port. Kuching port and Port Kelang share the container type as the first in the ranking, whereas Lahad Datu posted the oil tanker. Other results include the sequence of types at individual ports for providing useful information to help policymakers in establishing an effective inspection design. A similar approach is applicable in PSC inspection records for further analysis.