Port State Control – Paris and Black Sea MOUs – CIC on Tanker Damage Stability
Port state control inspections of oil tankers, chemical tankers and gas carriers have sometimes identified examples of non-compliance with statutory damage stability requirements including vessels unable to calculate their damage stability or which have sailed in a loaded condition not covered by their approved stability book. For this reason the Paris and Black Sea MOUs have announced they will be running a Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) focusing on tanker damage stability from 1 September 2010 until 30 November 2010.
While the CIC is running every port state control inspection of a tanker in a Paris or Black Sea MOU port will include additional checks to ensure that the vessel is complying with damage stability requirements as follows:
Does the ship have an approved stability information book?
Is the stability information book written in a language understood by the Master?
Does the approved stability information cover damaged conditions?
Can the Master demonstrate that the ship is normally loaded in accordance with the stability information book?
Has the Master verified an alternate loading condition by written authority of the Flag State or Recognised Organisation?
Has the master verified an alternate loading condition by assessing the loaded condition against critical damage KG data as included in the approved stability information?
Is there an on board stability computer program that includes damage stability?
Has the Master verified an alternate loading condition by using the on board stability computer program for carrying out damage stability checks?
If deficiencies are found, the action taken will depend on the severity of the findings. Serious deficiencies may result in the vessel being detained.
Source: Paris MOU