A continuous risk assessment is vital to address possible risks related to ships performance in which many factors are taken into account in order to ensure the safety of crew, cargo and environment.
Among many, an important risk for consideration is the PSC performance of the port that the ship is scheduled to arrive at; a ship detention is a worst case scenario for any ship manager and therefore, the knowledge of challenging ports is of paramount importance.
A combination of Analytics, including calls, inspections, deficiencies and detentions can help in identifying challenging ports. It is understood that a port with an increased Detention Ratio is considered to be more challenging than others. Additionally, a port may be challenging for a specific ship type but not for another ship type. Taking into consideration a number of Ship Types presenting CY 2021 data, Tables 1-4 provide interesting highlights. As a result, ships calling at these ports should be thoroughly prepared for demanding PSC inspections.
DER : Detention Rate
IVC% : Ship Inspected vs Ship Called %
RSP% : Ships Re inspected in same Port % (within 12 months excl. follow up inspections)
| # | Port | Country | Inspections | Deficiencies | Detentions | DPI | DER | IVC% | RSP% |
| 1 | Novorossiysk | Russia | 415 | 2,306 | 37 | 5.39 | 8.64% | 77% | 22% |
| 2 | Port Hedland | Australia | 553 | 752 | 25 | 1.33 | 4.43% | 45% | 13% |
| 3 | Vancouver | Canada | 229 | 1,411 | 14 | 5.39 | 5.34% | 28% | 3% |
| 4 | Gladstone | Australia | 198 | 637 | 9 | 2.75 | 3.88% | 20% | 11% |
| 5 | Antwerp | Belgium | 80 | 344 | 12 | 4.30 | 15% | 20% | 0% |
Table 1: Bulk Carriers (Global DPI: 1.60 Global DER:2.07%) / source: risk4sea.com
Key highlights for Bulk Carriers
- Novorossiysk shows the higher figures in all KPIs by all other ports. Almost 80% of bulk carriers called this port were inspected and 1 out of 5 were re-inspected again
- Antwerp and Vancouver show a minimum re-inspection ratio and a normal percentage of ships inspected vs ships called. Both ports present very high detention rates(15% and 5.34%).
- DER and DPI are significantly higher than the global average for bulk carriers (2.07% and 1.60 respectively)
| # | Port | Country | Inspections | Deficiencies | Detentions | DPI | DER | IVC% | RSP% |
| 1 | Novorossiysk | Russia | 260 | 1,778 | 35 | 6.84 | 13.46% | 60% | 36% |
| 2 | Vladivostok | Russia | 413 | 1,532 | 10 | 3.71 | 2.42% | 63% | 50% |
| 3 | Iskenderun | Turkey | 89 | 258 | 6 | 4.45 | 8.62% | 24% | 0% |
| 4 | Aqaba | Jordan | 49 | 315 | 4 | 6.43 | 8.16% | 78% | 12% |
| 5 | Antwerp | Belgium | 84 | 468 | 7 | 5.57 | 8.33% | 7% | 2% |
Table 2: General Cargo (Global DPI: 2.70 Global DER:3.86%) / source: risk4sea.com
Key highlights for General Cargo Ships
- Novorossiysk is the most challenging port for General Cargo with DER almost three times the global average (3.86% Global)
- Iskenderun, Aqaba and Antwerp have increased both DER and DPI.
| # | Port | Country | Inspections | Deficiencies | Detentions | DPI | DER | IVC% | RSP% |
| 1 | Antwerp | Belgium | 160 | 458 | 7 | 2.86 | 4.38% | 13% | 15% |
| 2 | Nakhodka | Russia | 65 | 362 | 5 | 5.57 | 7.69% | 49% | 11% |
| 3 | Sydney | Australia | 68 | 108 | 2 | 1.59 | 2.94% | 36% | 25% |
| 4 | Brisbane | Australia | 67 | 71 | 5 | 1.06 | 4.48% | 30% | 16% |
| 5 | Taman | Russia | 151 | 398 | 3 | 2.64 | 1.99% | 80% | 8% |
Table 3: Oil Tankers (Global DPI: 0.99 Global DER: 1.29%) / source: risk4sea.com
Key highlights for Oil Tankers
- DER appears increased for ports of Antwerp, Nakhondka, Sydney and Brisbane in comparison with the Global DER (1.29%)
- Antwerp, Nakhodka and Taman show increased DPI compared to Global average (0.99)
| # | Port | Country | Inspections | Deficiencies | Detentions | DPI | DER | IVC% | RSP% |
| 1 | Antwerp | Belgium | 107 | 484 | 8 | 4.52 | 7.48% | 16% | 3% |
| 2 | Novorossiysk | Russia | 124 | 1,049 | 9 | 8.46 | 7.46% | 81% | 56% |
| 3 | Sydney | Australia | 178 | 590 | 6 | 3.31 | 3.37% | 48% | 46% |
| 4 | Brisbane | Australia | 83 | 206 | 5 | 2.48 | 6.02% | 25% | 20% |
| 5 | Busan | S. Korea | 288 | 589 | 5 | 2.05 | 1.74% | 19% | 23% |
Table 4: Containers (Global DPI: 1.32 Global DER: 1.64%) / source: risk4sea.com
Key highlights for Containers
- Antwerp and Novorossiysk are the most challenging ports for containers.
- In Novorossiysk, 80% of containers called at the port were inspected
- Sydney and Brisbane also show increased figures of DPI and DER.
The analysis has presented as challenging, ports of each MoU region with respect to the number of inspections that took place during 2021 and not necessarily with respect to the number of ship calls. For example, Novorossiysk is the main port of Black Sea MoU where most initial inspections are conducted in it. Similarly, Port Hedland is the main port of Australia for Capsize bulk carriers while Antwerp is the main port for ships calling the north west sector of Paris MoU.
However, major ports such as Singapore, Honk Kong, Shanghai and main USA ports, were not included in the analysis. As explained, although these ports have a high number of ships calls, the number of inspections appeared low during 2021. For example, Singapore was the port with the highest number of calls during 2021 but with IVC% = 7% ; meaning that only 7 to 100 ships called in port were inspected. Furthermore, in other areas such as USA, ships are prepared to accept the USCG PSC inspection and thus findings are minimized.
