Restructuring Taiwan's port state control inspection authority

Abstract

Abstract To improve marine transportation safety, countries around the world have established authorities dedicated to implementing port state control (PSC). Appropriate measures have also been taken to ensure that these dedicated organizations are given enough power to carry out their duties independently and credibly as a safety mechanism. In contrast, Taiwan's existing PSC inspections are administrated by commercial port authorities, causing impartiality. The disadvantages of such a system become evident when a ship is found to have critical faults, because commercial port authorities have difficulty deciding whether the ship should be detained. Under such circumstances, the impartiality and objectivity of these port authorities are often questioned. Therefore, the restructuring of port authorities to improve dedication and objectivity is a critical issue in the implementation of PSC. This research uses three stages of methodology: (1) the in-depth expert interviews aim to gather information; (2) the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) calculates the weight of guidelines and evaluates feasible solutions. Port state control officers (PSCOs), maritime transport operators, and the staffs of competent authorities are used as the respondents of this expert questionnaire; and (3) the close-loop questionnaire survey evaluates and confirms the results of the above two research processes. The objective of this research is to create the best solution for introducing an independent authority dedicated to managing Taiwan's PSC tasks. Based on the evaluation of this research study, the optimal solution is to establish an independent government agency under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC). An alternative optimal solution is to form a PSC committee under MOTC, which would serve as a temporary measure if legislation for establishing an independent government agency is delayed. These solutions would improve the PSC in Taiwan and strengthen marine transportation safety.