Paris MOU publishes 2011 annual report

JULY 9, 2012 — The Paris MOU, which now coordinates the port state control inspections of 27 countries, has published its annual report for 2011 – the first year to see inspections of visiting ships conducted under the organization’s “New Inspection Regime.”

The new regime marks a major departure from the “25% inspection commitment” and six month inspection intervals previously used.

Now, quality ships meeting Paris MOU criteria will be rewarded with a “low risk ship” status and the inspection interval maybe up to 36 months. Even “standard risk ships” benefit from the new system extending inspection intervals up to 12 months. New to the system is that companies are now also monitored for performance, based on the
inspection history of their ships.

To balance the system, more resources a being directed to those ships with poor safety records, the “high risk ships”. These ships are subject to mandatory expanded inspections every 6 months when they call at a Paris MoU port.

Under the new regime,  the number of inspections has dropped from 24,058 in 2010 to 19,058 in 2011, while the number of individual ships inspected increased from 14,762 in 2010 to 15,268 in 2011.

Until last year the detention percentage has been decreasing gradually. The trend has not continued and in 2011 the percentage increased to 3.6 percentage. This can be explained since the focus of targeting is on ships with a higher priority. The number of detentions has decreased significantly from 790 in 2010 to 688 in 2011.  
 
In 2011 a total of 20 ships were banned. 13 more than the previous year.  Multiple detentions was the most common reason for banning in 2011.
 
Richard Schiferli, Secretary General stated: “It should be understood that substandard ships will no longer be tolerated in the region and with the new refusal of access measures in place, repeated offenders will be ‘banned’ from our ports. This has happened to a substantial number of ships already, some of which have been recycled in the mean time. Others chose to find new areas to operate, endangering the lives of the seafarers on board and constituting a risk for the environment.”
 
With 1,327 inspections and 152 detentions the ships flying a “black listed flag” had a detention rate of 11.45%. For ships flying a “gray listed flag” the detention rate is 7.11% (1,181 inspections, 84 detentions) and ships flying a “white listed flag” 2.65% (16,829 inspections and 446 detentions).
 
Recognized Organizations [generally, but not necessarily classification societies] are delegated by flag States and carry out most of the statutory surveys on behalf of flags. For this very reason, says the Paris MOU, it is important to monitor their performance.

The best performing RO over the period 2009-2011 is the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) followed by Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and China Classification Society. The worst performing RO is Phoenix Register of Shipping (PHRS), located in Piraeus, in Greece.

You can access the annual report HERE