ECONOMY

New system of ships’ checks

A new ship inspection regime will soon come into force internationally, based on the risk profiling of every vessel to be inspected, as the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MOU) decided last month. The new system aims at rewarding ships with a good history and quality level by inspecting them only every two years, while intensifying inspections of «high-risk» vessels, according to a document by the Merchant Marine Ministry. As the inspection regime is about to change, the Paris MOU announced that «for the fourth year in a row the detention rates have dropped, indicating that the strategy of the Paris MOU on Port State Control is paying off,» discouraging companies which manage ships with low safety levels. It was also made known that the Banning Order, the measure which disallows a ship access to a port, will soon be imposed on all types of vessels and not just in some categories, as it is today. With last year’s enlargement of the European Union, there are very few regions («white spots») in Europe left where inspections are not be made according to the Paris MOU and the EU Directives’ clauses on port state control. Coordination with the six cooperative members is reported to be bearing fruit, as proven by the fact that these countries have had their flags cleared from the «Black List.» In addition to that, the ministerial conference in Vancouver, Canada last year decided in favor of closer cooperation of the Paris and Tokyo MOU countries. Finally, the ministry’s document qualifies as useful the conclusions drawn from the Concentrated Inspection Campaigns (CICs) in the sectors of Maritime Security and of the crews’ Living and Working Conditions.

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