Legal regulation of Port State Control

The Port State Control system aims to ensure that all ships are subject to regular inspections, with particular attention to the ships of insufficient quality. To this end, during the inspection, priority is given to ships that are considered risky. Thetis database is an information system that contributes to the implementation of the Port State Control within the EU (European Unit). It contains data on inspections performed in the EU ports and the Paris Memorandum area. The Paris Memorandum has 27 member states and covers the waters of European coastal states and the North Atlantic basin from North America to Europe. The main goal of the Paris MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) is to eliminate substandard ships through a harmonized Port State Control system. Namely, inspections should ensure that ships meet international safety standards, are safe for the environment, and provide adequate living and working conditions for workers. The primary responsibility for ensuring these standards rests with the ship owner/shipper while the responsibility for ensuring such compliance rests with the flag state. The aim of this analysis is to determine the number of inspections performed in the ports of the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Italy, to identify the cause of ship detentions and the most common deficiencies of offshore supply vessels, MODU (Mobile Offshore Drilling Units) and FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) Units. In the observed period, the impact of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was significant, resulting in the decline in the numbers of inspections performed in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, the number of inspections increased, but it still has not reached its pre-pandemic level. During the period that was the subject of research, port state inspections in the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of Italy revealed 241 deficiencies. Five areas with the largest number of deficiencies are: Certificate & Documentation, Safety of Navigation, Fire Safety, ISM, and Life-saving appliances, which follow the trend of the lack in the areas of the Paris Memorandum. The greatest increase in deficiencies was recorded in the areas of Labor Conditions-Health protection, Certificate & Documents (Crew Certificate, Documents), Emergency System and Fire safety area, which led to an increase in the number of offshore supply ships retention during the first half of 2022.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Port State Control in the Caribbean Region is the fourth in a series commencing in 1982 with the Paris Memorandum (Europe). The other two cover the Latin American (1992) and Asia Pacific (1993) regions, and further regional developments are in the offing. These documents represent an innovative exercise by port states at the regional level to guard against accidents and pollution caused by vessels that do not conform with generally accepted international rules and standards. Following the practice of the Paris MOU, most also ensure conformity with international standards for seafarers to ensure acceptable living and working conditions on board ships. Each MOU identifies the relevant rules by reference to specific conventions adopted under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Port state control (PSC) inspection is an important measure to improve ship safety and reduce ship accident rate. To improve the effectiveness of PSC inspections, some MoUs have begun to implement new inspection regime (NIR). However, the effectiveness of NIR remains to be studied. Then this study aims to verify the effectiveness of NIR and improve shipping safety. In this study, Bayesian Network model is used to establish the relationship between NIR, ship deficiencies, detention and ship accident to explore the impact of NIR on maritime safety. The data in this study are from PSC inspection data in the Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and accident data in the International Maritime Organization (IMO). By analyzing the changes of the number of ship deficiency, detention rate and accident rate before and after NIR implementation, the effectiveness of NIR can be verified. The results show that the implementation of NIR does not effectively reduce the number of substandard ships, but the number of ships with serious deficiencies is significantly reduced. However, ship accident rate has not declined. Therefore, it is believed that Tokyo MoU needs to further improve the effectiveness of NIR and strengthen supervision of defective ships.

Game model for a new inspection regime of port state control under different reward and punishment conditions

Most human activities at sea are conducted by or from ships, including the transport of around 90 per cent of all goods that are internationally traded. This chapter focuses on the way in which international law regulates the safety and seaworthiness of ships and the well-being of their crews. It begins by outlining the framework for such regulation, examining the varying roles of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), International Labour Organization (ILO), flag States (including the law governing the grant of nationality to a ship), coastal States and port States (including their competence to regulate foreign ships visiting their ports). The chapter continues by examining the standards for safety and seaworthiness that have been adopted by the IMO, and the ways in which those standards are implemented and enforced. That includes examination of the IMO’s mandatory audit scheme; the role of port States in inspecting ships and detaining them if they are unseaworthy; and the co-ordination of port State control activities at the regional level. The chapter then turns to examine the measures that have been prescribed by the IMO and ILO to protect and promote the well-being of seafarers, as well as the role of human rights treaties in this regard. The chapter ends by examining ships’ routeing and other measures designed to prevent collisions and ships running aground.

Port State control (PSC) is an important method which the Port State adopts to manage ship safety and marine pollution in its territory. During the process of promoting the construction of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR), subject to economic development and shipping, there is a lack of unified standards and requirements among different states along MSR, which causes many problems. Firstly, the level of economic development among countries around MSR is different leading to some countries cannot afford to develop their PSC. There is a lack of cooperation among these countries. Secondly, the PSC levels of most countries along MSR are weak. Moreover, the standards of PSC and the capacity of the officers of the Port State are different. Lastly, there is a deviation in the direction of the same State’s PSC. They are even not clear on the major functions of PSC, so they may be confused by the pre-supervision and the latter examination. Therefore, taking advantage of the experience from the successful PSC organizations, the states may learn from the examples of the new mechanism under Paris MOU and Tokyo MOU, then formulate the cooperative mechanism fitting better to them. In order to fulfill this goal, the authors shall try to unify the standards of PSC, quantify the PSC content index, and rectify the direction of PSC among different states along MSR. In the meantime, the states shall strengthen information exchanges and further develop extensive cooperation, and improve the modes of cooperation about shipyard and ship classification society among countries. Then it will create a favorable environment for the development of shipping and the MSR construction.

The paper deals with the application of binding rules and regulations relating to the safety of life of seafarers and the protection of their health on board of merchant ships. In Germany, the seafarers act (Seemannsgesetz) contains most of these obligations; but it applies only to seafarers on ships under German flag. Labour conditions on board foreign ships in a German port remain under the jurisdiction of the flag State (Art. 94(3) of the Law of the Sea Convention). But the port State may control whether proper jurisdiction and control with respect to foreign ships have been exercised and it may report the facts to the flag State which, if appropriate, shall take any action necessary to remedy the situation (Art. 94(6) of the mentioned Convention). In German ports, the See-Berufsgenossenschaft, acting on behalf of the federal shipping administration as the competent maritime authority, controls whether the safety conditions for seafarers on board foreign ships are in conformity with the international minimum standards set forth in the Merchant Shipping Minimum Standards Convention 1976 (No. 147) and the additional Protocol of 1996 of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The control is conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Paris Memorandum on port State control (MOU). It requires, however, a complaint about the labour conditions on board the ship. In accordance with the generally recognised no-better-treatment rule, ships flying the flag of a third State are equally subject to this control. Unlike labour conditions for seafarers, those of dock workers engaged on foreign merchant ships in port are exclusively under the jurisdiction of the port State. The German seafarers act does not apply to dock workers. Germany has ratified the ILO-Convention No. 152 concerning Occupational Safety and Health in Dock Work of 1979 and other conventions relating to such work. The competence for the control of their working conditions is vested in the labour administration of the Land in which the port is located. The ILO Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC 2006) reviews the international minimum standards of labour conditions on merchant ships. It requires port State control of all merchant ships regardless of their flag, which are visiting a port. The Convention is expected to come into force in 2011 and it is deemed to become the fourth pillar of international maritime law besides the three global IMO Conventions SOLAS, MARPOL and STCW.

Game analysis of ship ballast water discharge management —triggered by radioactive water release from Japan

The topic of harmonizing port state control (PSC) inspections has been on the agenda of the flag state sub‐committee meeting at the International Maritime Organization in recent years. This article is based on a unique combined dataset of 183 819 PSC inspections and uses correspondence analysis to visualize differences in treatment of vessels across several PSC regimes, representing more than 50 individual port states in order to provide better insight into the areas of possible harmonization. The results show that treatment of vessels across the regimes varies, indicating room for harmonization in all inspection areas. We recommend accelerating the harmonization process by putting more emphasis on the harmonization of inspection procedures, combined training of PSC officers and the use of combined datasets across regimes, in particular in the concept of the development of the Global Integrated Ship Information System of the International Maritime Organization.

This chapter seeks to examine the manner in which the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006), addresses the legal jurisdiction of the State over foreign ships entering its ports (port State) or legal venue with respect to seafarers’ rights. The MLC, 2006, was adopted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2006, following six years of intensive and extensive consultations and international meetings of the ILO tripartite constituents. This resulted in the consolidation of almost all maritime labor Conventions and Recommendations adopted by the ILO since 1920 covering all aspects of working and living conditions of seafarers. The MLC, 2006, often referred to as the Seafarers’ Bill of Rights, also provides shipowners and governments with a level playing field in the most global and one of the most competitive of industries. The MLC, 2006, is also considered to be the “fourth pillar” of the international maritime regulatory regime alongside the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) 1974, as amended; the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as amended by the Protocol of 1978 and by the Protocol of 1997 (MARPOL); and the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), as amended, including the 1995 Amendments and 2010 Manila Amendments. This chapter explores and examines the role of the port State under the MLC, 2006, and argues that (1) the MLC, 2006, does not go beyond existing international law relating to ships for other matters under IMO Conventions and (2) the onshore complaints procedures are a careful balance respecting the role of the flag State and at the same time recognizing the important role that port States can play in securing the protection of seafarers in this globalized sector.

IntroductionThe merchant marine fleet is under inspection by several parties to ensure maritime regulation compliance. International Maritime Organization mainly regulates the industry, and the most effective defender is indeed Port StateControl run by the regional memorandum of understandings.ObjectiveThis article aims to analyze all detention remarks of Paris Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) from 2013 to 2019 for EU15 countries (except Luxemburg and Austria) to guide marine industry on detainable Port State Control remarks and country risk profile.MethodsThe data of the detained vessels taken from the public website of Paris MOU and each report considered as a professional judgment that causes detention. Analytical Hierarchy Process Approach has been utilized to indicate the ranking of basic maritime regulations from the perspective of the Port State Control, and Geographic Information System (GIS) helps us to demonstrate the regional dispersion amongst EU15.ResultsThrough an approach based on Analytical Hierarchy Process and demonstrating the results on GIS has been shown that almost all the country’s top priorities for regulation are Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and Fire Safety Systems (FSS). Moreover, a comparative demonstration of the detention percentage of each regulation to AHP results demonstrates a better understanding of EU15 countries' detention profile.ConclusionThe results of the study can assist Port State Officers, ship crew, ship owners, and managers in presenting the facts of their inspection and able to improve themselves. The spatial analysis is also expected to guide ship owners and managers to focus their vessel’s deficiencies on preventing sub-standardization. Policymakers also utilize these reports to evaluate their inspection practices.

The inspection of foreign-flagged ships in a state’s ports and anchorages for the purpose of monitoring compliance with international standards, known as ‘port state control’, has become necessary due to ineffective control by flag states over their vessels. Measures of effectiveness of port state control invariably focus upon the quantitative outcomes of inspections, deficiencies and detentions. This paper focuses on how effectively port state control is being delivered in the Asia-Pacific region on a qualitative basis and, in particular, it considers whether the strategic objective of the Asia-Pacific port state control regime, the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control in the Asia-Pacific Region (Tokyo MOU),1 is being achieved. The starting point is to recall the concept of port state control and its development from a unilateral reactive measure by coastal states to a multilateral proactive control mechanism supported by international law. The structure, membership and capability of the Tokyo MOU is examined, including the flag state record of member authorities.2 Port state control performance of the Tokyo MOU is analysed using published statistics with comparative analysis undertaken of the European port state control regime - the Paris MOU. The paper identifies issues and challenges for member authorities of the Tokyo MOU in meeting its objectives. The components of the Tokyo MOU’s strategic objectives are then examined to determine whether they are being achieved. A number of recommendations are made.

This chapter gives an overview of the main institutions and conventions at international, supra-national and national level that regulate cruise shipping to ensure the safe, secure and sustainable operation. Sections discuss the roles of the International Maritime Organization, the International Labour Organization, flag states, classification societies, port states and port state control. US requirements are discussed as well.

The effectiveness of the New Inspection Regime for Port State Control: Application of the Tokyo MoU

The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (MOU) shall eliminate the operation of substandard ships in the ports of Europe. It does not set up additional safety requirements. Instead, it shall help to enforce rules and standards laid down in international agreements ("relevant instruments") on ships regardless of the flag they are flying. The control is carried out by surveyors (Port State Control Officers, PSCOs) appointed by the port state authorities. Ships are selected for control with regard to the typical hazards that certain types of ships pose, and to a "rolling list" of flags with especially high detention rates. If a deficiency is found, the surveyor can impose measures ranging from an instruction to rectify them before departure, or within two weeks, or in the next port of call, to the detention of the ship. The legal basis for the detention must be found in the "relevant instruments" implemented by the domestic law of the port state. The owner or operator of the detained ship has a right of appeal. Appeal, however, does not suspend detention.