The Maritime Authorities of the Tokyo and the Paris Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control issued the questionnaire that will be used during their joint Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on Emergency Systems and Procedures, to take place from 1st September to 30 November 2019.
Following last year’s CIC on MAPROL Annex VI, this year’s CIC seeks to ensure compliance with the requirements for preparation of emergency equipment, as well as the crew’s ability to respond to emergency situations. A ship will be subject to one inspection under this CIC during the period of the campaign.
Apart from Paris and Tokyo MoU, the Black Sea, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Riyadh and Viña del Mar MoUs will also participate in the campaign.
As informed, the main objectives of this CIC are to ensure that:
- Ships are capable of responding appropriately and promptly to emergency situations in order to preserve human lives, protect the marine environment and minimize damages to ships;
- Necessary measures are taken by responsible stakeholders, such as shipping companies and ship managers having a direct influence on the safety of ships and by raising their awareness of the importance of ship emergency systems;
- Emergency systems installed onboard can be properly operated and effectively managed in any emergency situations; and
- Master and crew of the ship understand their assigned roles and duties in case of emergency and enhance their familiarity with the situations so that they can act immediately when circumstances arise.
With respect to the above targets, operators and crews preparing for the upcoming CIC are recommended to:
- Review deficiencies related to emergency systems. The Administration’s records show the majority of deficiencies for emergency systems are related to emergency generators, emergency lighting, emergency fire pumps, fire detection systems, and drills.
- Ensure all emergency equipment and installations are installed and operating properly.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of maintenance of emergency systems (e.g. emergency fire pumps) and update accordingly.
- Ensure familiarity with systems and procedures, and ensure drills are conducted and documented properly
- Ensure familiarity with relevant regulations.
Emergency systems were a key area of deficiencies identified during previous inspections. For example:
- ‘Emergency lighting, batteries and switches’ made it to Paris MoU’s list of Top 20 Deficiencies, both in 2017 and 2018.
- ‘Emergency generator’ was one of the most frequent causes of detainable deficiencies among Tokyo MoU’s members states in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
- ‘Emergency lighting, batteries and switches’ and ‘Emergency fire pump and its pipes’ both appeared on the Black Sea MoU’s list of Top 5 detainable deficiencies in 2018.
