BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

detention percentage, which is supposed to mean inefficient
inspections. The matter is not, however, that simple.
Majority of ships inspected in Finland (68%) have flags (in
order of size) of Russia, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands
and Norway. Those ships come from countries, which participate
in the winter traffic and have low figures on the
detention and deficiency lists. Therefore Finland has some
difficulties to compete with some Central-European countries
in detention percentage contest. Most substandard flag
of convenience ships try to avoid sailing to Finland
because of trade union activities in ITF wage agreement
matters.
PSC inspections in Finland are free of charge.
Inspectors in the maritime districts have traditionally
been captains with long merchant ship sea experiance. When
districts have started to work more with the statutory
surveys of Finnish vessels, some inspectors with engineering
background were recently hired as well. This may
improve the quality of inspections. We have also tried to
send one or two inspectors to every seminar in order to
learn about practices in other countries.
The maritime districts and the National Board of Navigation
have a common office computer network. Herewith every
district office has on-line connection to the Saint Malo
Centre unit. Inspection data can be fed daily to the
inspection file and inspectors can study the data of
arriving ships and the possible in advance warnings in the
mail box.
Port state control activity causes expenses for the administration.
Annual contribution to the secretariat, computer
lines and meeting participation may cost FIM 250000. The
PSC secretariat estimated in 1992 the cost of one inspection
cautiously to ECU 60. The figure is too low for the
Finnish circumstances. If the price of one ispection hour
is estimated to FIM 300, the cost of one inspection varies
between 600 and 1200 mark. The total annual cost in
Finland might be in US dollars about $ 100000.
The National Board of Navigation appreciate the port state
control efforts as an important preventive measure to keep
the Baltic Sea clean and safe. The implementation control
of the MARPOL convention is one of the main parts of the
port state control. International cooperation in this field
is rapidly expanding. New participants are wished warmly
Wellcome.
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