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High Risk Ships will be stopped:
New Inspection Regime (NIR) ensures equal treatment
The new inspection regime (NIR) for Port State Control
ensures that all ships which are inspected will receive
equal treatment, regardless of what flag they fly.
The new inspection regime is also significantly stricter
than the old one.
The new inspection regime came into force on 1 January 2011 and
applies to all 27 countries that participate in the Paris MoU (Memorandum
of Understanding). 47 inspectors from these countries met for
a seminar in Haugesund in January.
- A significant change from the old inspection regime is that we
no longer decide which foreign ships to inspect in Norwegian ports.
This is done in a database, which selects the ships according to certain
criteria, says senior engineer Thor Clausen at the Norwegian Maritime
Authority (NMA).
RISK
The purpose of the new system for Port State Control is that ships
which are categorised as "High Risk" will be inspected more frequently
than those in the "Standard" or "Low Risk" categories.
High Risk Ships: Will be inspected at least every 6 months.
Standard Risk Ships: Will be inspected at least every 12 months.
Low Risk Ships: Will be inspected at least every 3 years.
- When the time for inspection is approaching, a message is sent
from the database to all participating countries of the Paris MoU. The
ship must then be inspected in the next port of call, says Clausen.
However, if something out of the ordinary happens to the ship, if it
runs aground for example, it may still be inspected by the port state,
even though it has recently been inspected in another port.
WHAT WILL BE CONTROLLED
It is no longer up to the inspectors how to conduct a Port State Control.
Now, all port states will practice the same inspection procedures.
- An important objective of the seminar in Haugesund was to share
information regarding the relevant laws and regulations of the new inspection
regime, and to discuss how certain issues can be addressed in
practice. Participants from different countries contributed with great
interest in the work groups where they discussed various situations that
may occur, says Clausen.
EU DIRECTIVE
The new inspection regime is also included in the EEA (European
Economic Area), with legislation regulating the criteria regarding how
shipping companies should be classified in relation to risk.
The European Commission, assisted by the EMSA (European Maritime
Safety Agency), will publish regular lists of companies that have
had a low or very low performance level over the previous three years.
The assessment of the shipping companies will partly depend on how
often the ships have been detained and the deficiencies reported by the
Port State Control officers.
WORKING AND LIVING CONDITIONS
The inspectors were also introduced to the Maritime Labour Convention
(MLC 2006), which will have implications for how Port State
Controls are carried out.
Assistant Director Torbjørn Husby from the NMA says that the convention
has a number of minimum standards for working and living
conditions on board ships. These include requirements for contracts of
employment, wages, working hours and rest periods, accommodation,
food, medical care, security, etc.
Countries that ratify the convention are obliged to comply with
these minimum requirements. 30 countries must ratify the convention
before it will come into force. Husby is convinced that the number will
be reached this spring. Norway ratified the convention in 2009.
Port State Controls on ships registered in a country that has ratified
the convention will be carried out relatively fast. Inspections of ships
from other flag states will be much more extensive and will take considerably
longer time.
- When the 30 flag states have ratified the convention, it will be another
12 months before it can come into force. In other words, we are
looking at the spring of 2013, says Husby. He added that the convention
will have little impact on Norwegian seafarers, who already enjoy
better working and living conditions than the minimum requirements
of the convention. However, seafarers in a number of other countries
are looking forward to its implementation.
Port State Controls in 2011:
Fewer ships detained
In the course of 2011, 594 foreign ships were subject
to Port State Control in Norwegian ports. Several
recommendations were imposed, but only nine ships
were detained while deficiencies were being repaired.
The ships that were detained last year are registered in the Faroe
Islands, United Kingdom, Bahamas, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
Moldova and Malta.
After the introduction of the new inspection regime on 1 January
2011, each member state is assigned a minimum number of Port State
Controls to be carried out each year – a so-called "fair share". Norway
was assigned a minimum of 561 PSCs in 2011. With 594 completed
controls, Norway is consequently well ahead.
In 2010, Norwegian Port State Control Officers inspected 789 foreign
vessels in Norwegian ports. 20 of these were detained until deficiencies
were repaired. The number of inspected vessels amounted to
approximately 31 percent of the average number of ships calling in
Norwegian ports over the last three years. That is an average of 2,534
ships per year.
- One reason that so few vessels are detained is that very few
"High Risk Ships" call at Norwegian ports. Typically, these vessels are
detained in other countries before they come this far north, says Thor
Clausen.
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