SQE MARINE recommends best practices to check compliance with the applicable requirements of the MARPOL Annex VI for the forthcoming CIC which will be held for a period of three months by Paris, Tokyo, Black Sea and Indian MoUs.
Paris MoU on Port State Control issued an official announcement to remind the launch, along with Tokyo MoU, of a joint three-month Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on MARPOL Annex VI, starting from 1 September 2018 and ending 30 November 2018.
The first detention of a fishing vessel under the provisions of the International Labour Organization’s Work in Fishing Convention, 2007 (No. 188) has taken place in late June, involving a foreign 380 GT vessel in Cape Town, South Africa, following complaints by the crew about working conditions, ILO informed.
A Tutoring Project on Port State Control took place in Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan, on 2-6 July, within the technical assistance which EMSA provides to European Neighbourhood Policy countries under the Black and Caspian Sea Regions Project.
The US Cruise Ship National Center of Expertise cited a list of common causes of PSC detentions on cruise ships by the USCG throughout 2017. USCG conducted 292 cruise ship examinations in 2017 and only 0.34% received a detention, which shows there is a strong safety culture in the cruise line industry.
Since MLC came into force in August 2013, a lot of inspections have been conducted on items related to working & living conditions of seafarers. Paris MoU and AMSA are two regions which appear to conduct thoroughly PSC inspections with respect to MLC implementation.
EMSA hosted a training on IMO Port State Control Procedures from 20 to 21 June 2018, at its premises in Lisbon, under the Black and Caspian Sea regions Project. This was the first training tailor-made by EMSA especially for the Project’s beneficiaries which are non MoU on PSC countries.
Viña del Mar MoU has launched a CIC, from 1 June to 31 August 2018, to ensure compliance with SOLAS Chapter II-1, on safety of auxiliary machinery. USCG has initiated CIC for vessels fitted with open lifeboats. Black Sea MoU, Indian Ocean MoU, Paris MoU, Tokyo MoU will run CIC on MARPOL VI in September to November 2018.
USCG issued a safety alert informing marine inspectors and other interested persons that ethylene vapors on LNG carriers activate CO alarm. Specifically, during an examination of a LNG carrier whose cargo tanks contained ethylene vapors, PSC Officers received alarms on their portable 4 Gas meters giving a reading of 60 to 100 parts per-million CO.
Port State Control (PSC) is the internationally agreed regime for the inspection of foreign ships in other national ports by official PSC inspectors. Inspectors are focusing, among others, to safety of navigation as one of the main aspects of safety on board. As ECDIS became a vital part of bridge culture, PSCOs have become more experienced on related issues.
