During 2023, 5,294 inspections involving 3,541 individual ships were carried out on ships registered in the Black Sea Region, Black Sea MoU Annual PSC Report informs.
According to the Black Sea MoU Annual PSC Report, the impact of the Russian Armed Invasion of Ukraine affected shipping in the Black Sea Region, including Ukrainian ports. In 2023, although the number of inspections closely aligns with the five-year average recorded during the pre-Covid period from 2015 to 2019 (5,258), the number of inspections of Ukraine significantly dropped by 45.5 per cent compared with the pre-war five-year period.
Black Sea Grain Initiative and its impact
Although grain shipments from Ukraine resumed in 2022 thanks to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, signed by the Republic of Türkiye, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the United Nations on 22 July 2022, the Initiative was terminated on 17 July 2023. After the termination of the Initiative, the number of inspections of Ukraine also decreased by 21.1 per cent.
Establishment of maritime corridor
To establish a special maritime corridor in Ukrainian sovereign waters in the Black Sea for commercial vessels heading to and from Ukrainian ports, the Government of Ukraine has temporarily instituted a maritime route to facilitate the unblocking of international shipping in the northwestern part of the Black Sea which runs along Ukraine’s southwest Black Sea coast, into Romanian territorial waters and exclusive maritime economic zone, and onwards to Türkiye (for further information, please see IMO Circular Letters No.4748, dated 19 July 2023, and No.4769, dated 24 August 2023). The corridor had a positive impact on the increase in vessel traffic. Subsequently, a positive step for the viability of the route was launched by a mine sweeping group of Bulgaria, Romania, and Türkiye designed to free coastal waters from sea mines.
Inspection rate and ship data
The exact number of individual ships operating in the region was unavailable due to the war in Ukraine, and it was estimated as 5,617*. The inspection rate in the region was approximately 63.04% in 2023. The number of individual ships inspected in 2023 (3,541) is slightly more than the number of individual ships inspected in 2022 (3,501). Out of 5,294 inspections in 2023, 3,204 were found with deficiencies. The percentage of inspections with deficiencies in 2023 (60.53%) is nearly similar to 2022 (59.96%).
Detentions due to deficiencies
In 2023, the number of ships detained as a result of deficiencies clearly hazardous to safety, health, or the environment amounted to 208. These detained vessels were registered by 27 different Flag Administrations. The overall detention percentage in the region (Detentions as a per cent of inspections) in 2023 continues its upward trend, from 3.50% in 2022 to 3.93%. Since several individual ships were inspected and detained more than once during any one year, the regional detention rate (Individual ships detained as a per cent of individual ships inspected) in 2023 was 5.20%, which is higher than the detention percentage. The regional detention rate in 2023 was also higher than the 2022 detention rate of 4.63%.
Breakdown of ships inspected by type
When considering the breakdown of ships inspected by ship type, the largest group of ships inspected during 2023 were general cargo/multipurpose with 2,120 (40.05%) inspections, followed by bulk carriers with 1,587 (29.98%) and oil tankers/chemical tankers with 613 (11.58%), which together represent 81.61% of inspections. For the year 2023, the top 5 inspections by ship type are presented below.
Detentions by ship type
The majority of detained ships were also general cargo/multipurpose ships with 94 (45.19%) detentions, followed by bulk carriers with 36 (17.31%) detentions and oil tankers/chemical tankers with 18 (8.65%) detentions, which accounted for 71.15% of the total detentions.
Deficiencies recorded during inspections
A total of 17,326 deficiencies were recorded during port State control inspections in 2023. The majority of the deficiencies found upon inspection in 2023 were related to the safety of navigation (2,438 or 14.1%), life-saving appliances (1,941 or 11.2%), health protection, medical care, social security (1,938 or 11.2%), fire safety (1,568 or 9.0%), and documents (1,278 or 7.4%). These five categories make up 52.9% of the total deficiencies found in 2023. The top 5 categories of deficiencies are presented below.
The number of ISM-related deficiencies was 389, which accounted for 2.25% of the deficiencies, while ISM-related detainable deficiencies were 74, comprising 6.37% of the detainable deficiencies.
Detainable deficiencies
A total of 1,162 detainable deficiencies were recorded during port State control inspections in 2023. During the year, 6.71% of total deficiencies were recorded as detainable deficiencies. The majority of the detainable deficiencies found upon inspections in 2023 were related to safety of navigation (199 or 17.1%), fire safety (136 or 11.7%), emergency systems (135 or 11.6%), life-saving appliances (82 or 7.1%), and ISM (74 or 6.4%). These five categories make up 53.9% of the total detainable deficiencies found in 2023. The top 5 categories of detainable deficiencies are presented below.
