After a year’s delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Paris and Tokyo MoU are about to launch a new Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC). During this campaign, which will run from 1 September to 30 November 2021, Port State Control inspections will focus on ship stability.
The Black Sea, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Riyadh and Vina del Mar Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) will join this initiative, whereby the Caribbean MoU, US Coast Guard and AMSA have their own CIC or local inspection campaigns.
CIC on Stability in General
The common CIC on Stability in General was developed by the Paris and Tokyo MoUs and scheduled for 2020. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was postponed for one year. The motivation for this CIC is several serious incidents due to incorrect ship loading conditions or missing intact stability documentation on board.
The purpose of the campaign on ship’s stability in general is:
- to confirm that the ship’s crew are familiar with assessing the actual stability condition on completion of cargo operations before departure of the ship and on all stages of the voyage;
- to create awareness among the ship’s crew and owners about the importance of calculating the actual stability condition of the ship on completion of cargo operations and before departure of the ship;
- to verify that the ship complies with intact stability requirements (and damage stability requirements, if applicable) under the relevant IMO instruments.
A ship will be subject to only one inspection under this CIC during the period of the campaign. It is expected that the Tokyo and Paris MoUs will carry out approximately 10,000 inspections during the CIC, but this is subject to any developments during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Also read: Autumn PSC inspections to focus on emergency systems and procedures
Safety Management System and ISM-related deficiencies
The CIC will be included in the routine Port State Control (PSC) inspections in the period from September to November 2021. A pre-defined questionnaire will be used to assess that information and equipment provided on board complies with the relevant conventions. Any deficiencies found during the CIC on Stability in General will be reported in the PSC inspection report with the related PSC Code.
All stability-related deficiencies mostly affect the Safety Management System (SMS) and can trigger an ISM-related deficiency (International Safety Management (ISM) Code), especially if they are numerous or reoccurring, states DNV. Therefore, for deficiencies found during this CIC, a specific ISM-related item might be part of the final checklist for the CIC.
Also read: Dutch flag drops one spot on Port State Control performance list
