Port of Call Risk Assessment (POCRA): A key tool for every ship manager

Given what is at stake in these days and era, it is of paramount importance to assess the forthcoming call with respect to PSC Inspection risks in order to identify probability and severity of a potential inspection and therefore arrive into a Ship, Manager and Port Specific Prioritization Checklist to assist the Ship to prepare, minimize risk and prepare accordingly.

The Port of Call Risk Assessment (POCRA) tool of RISK4SEA is an ideal implementation of the concept providing a standardized way to prepare a ship for next port of call inspection taking into consideration a number of 25-30 factors to assess the possibility of the specific ship to be inspected in this specific port and the severity of the inspection (if it occurs).

The approach is simple and based on the commonly shipping industry’s Risk Assessment Practice. Entering a ship (by IMO number or name) and port (from Risk4Sea list) there are 2 items to be assessed:

• Probability of Inspection (10 factors to be considered)
• Severity of Inspection (15 factors to be considered)

All calculations, KPIs, and checks are based on a last 36 months period unless otherwise specified in the items marked with the period of 12 months for the specific fleet segment of the ship.

Why it is important to check the fleet segment issues?

There are different approaches when a PSCO inspects different types of ships. Even the findings vary between different types. For example what is the use for a Master on Capesize Bulk Carrier to review and check a checklist created with findings including items for tankers or LPG carriers which are not applicable with his ship? The time that the Master or office personnel will spend to review and check such items is vital and can be used for other tasks.

Probability of Inspection

With respect to Probability of a forthcoming PSC Inspection in that port, POCRA takes into account:

Ship related factors such as:

1. MoU Ship Priority / Risk Status Inspection Priority calculation as applied in the specific
2. MoU PSC Regime – considering the ship/manager performance the last 36 months
   Inspection Window Open Date (for the specific MOU) and status
3. Ship Detentions in Port (Last 36 months, irrespective of Manager)
4. Ship Detentions in the specific MoU

Manager related factors such as:

1. Manager Risk Status calculation as applied in the specific MoU PSC Regime – considering the manager performance the last 36 months
2. Manager Detentions in Port (Last 36 months, irrespective of Fleet Segment)
3. Manager Detentions in the specific MoU

Port Related Factors such as:

1. Targeted Flag (as per MOU announcements)
2. Unique Ships inspected vs Unique Ships called in the PSC Port area for the fleet segment in last 12 months
3. Unique Ships re-inspected more than once in this port within the last 12 months for the fleet segment – excluding follow up and re-inspections with more than 15 days apart

Severity of Inspection

With respect to Severity of a forthcoming PSC Inspection in that port, POCRA takes into account:

Ship related factors such as:

1. Ship detentions of last 12 months within the PSC regime as the ship may be a target
2. Ship Deficiency per Inspection (DPI) vs Global Benchmarking Average (GBA) of the fleet segment and age group ships
3. Number of common detainable deficiency codes between the ship and Port for the fleet segment
4. Number of common deficiency codes between ship and Port (Top 20) of the fleet segment

Manager Related Factors such as:

1. Manager Deficiency profile in this Port for any given ship type
2. Ship Record of the ship with the Manager (Number of Inspections, DPI/DER and Detentions of the Ship under current manager)
3. Number of common Manager detainable deficiency codes against Port detainable items of the fleet segment
4. Number of common Manager deficiency codes against Port top 20 deficiency codes of the fleet segment

Port related factors such as:

1. Number common ship deficiency codes vs Port Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CiC) in effect corresponding codes
2. Number common manager deficiency codes vs Port Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CiC) in effect corresponding codes
3. Targeted Manager Base (Check of Calls vs Inspections for the Country where the Manager of the Ship is based)
4. Number of deficiency codes required in Port deficiency Profile to achieve 80% of total deficiencies of the port for the fleet segment
5. Check of Port Detention Ratio (DER) vs Global Benchmarking Average (GBA) for the fleet segment
6. Port Deficiency per Inspection (DPI) vs Global Benchmarking Average (GBA) for the fleet segment
7. Port Corruption Risk Factor as an assessment based on 3rd party intelligence and algorithmic checks

The overall Port of Call Risk Assessment (POCRA) status may result in the associated risk of the call being Minor, High or Critical, providing insights on to which parameters should be prioritized. The calculation is based on the Matrix.

Having completed the POCRA Ship, Manager and Port Specific Prioritization Checklist, the following are displayed and analyzed:

1. Items concerning a Concentrated Inspections Campaign (if in place in the port). PSC deficiencies codes related to CIC questionnaire are provided and analyzed
2. Critical items; Detainable deficiency codes marked in the port
3. The number of common Deficiency codes between Ship and Port,
4. The number of common deficiency codes between Management Company and port
5. Additional Items. All remaining deficiency codes marked in port the past 36 months.

The prioritization checklist is easy to be handled as it is provided in excel format, and the user may add, remove, highlight items or insert comments for further ship notifications. A very simple and easy way for preparation, which allows office personnel to engage with other issues than gathering information and preparing checklists and on the other hand provide Master on board with port focused information.

The upcoming version of the application will allow the user to insert managed vessels next port of call and have an idea on high risk ports for each ship. As mentioned in the beginning, having a 1-Click analysis (in a few seconds), of an upcoming port call with specific targeted preparation (Manager/Ship/Port) is a useful tool which will provide the necessary information on board for an effective preparation. However, this can not replace the organizations’ culture as how their onboard operations are being conducted or how their ships are being maintained.