AMSA has released its Annual Report on Port State Control for 2015. The changes to the shipping industry’s safety regulatory framework by the Navigation Act 2012 and the adoption of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006 had their second full year in effect in 2015.
In 2015, Australia’s response to ships and operators who perform poorly on a consistent basis resulted in the use of the directions power provided in section 246 of the Navigation Act 2012 to ban 3 ships from entering or using Australian ports for periods from 3 to 12 months.
The PSC processes used for the MLC continued to evolve and these changes resulted in PSC inspections identifying additional deficiency types, which have had an impact on the usual annual performance measures.
10- year summary of inspection, detentions and deficiency rate
These are significant reductions reflected in the average number of deficiencies per inspection dropping from 2.9 in 2014 to 2.3 in 2015 and the detention rate dropping from 7.2% in 2014 to 6.0% in 2015. Historically this is the lowest average number of deficiencies per inspection since 2004 and the lowest detention rate since 2007. The overall picture indicates that AMSA’s PSC regime combined with improved performance by owners and operators delivered very good results in 2015.
The most prevalent cause of detention for the period 2013 to 2015 relate to the safety management system required by the International Safety Management (ISM) Code. In 2015 material issues such as Fire Safety (15.9%), Pollution Prevention (11.2%), Emergency Systems (9.8%) and Lifesaving Appliances (8.6%) continue to be a significant cause of detention and this has been a consistent issue over the years 2013 to 2015.
2015 MLC Results
In 2015, AMSA received 132 MLC complaints pertaining to 217 alleged breaches in the living and working conditions on board vessels. These complaints were derived from a number of sources, including the seafarers themselves, other government agencies, seafarer welfare groups, agents, pilots and members of the general public with a vested interest in the welfare of seafarers. Following investigation of the complaints received, deficiencies were issued against 46 vessels and 9 vessels were detained for MLC related breaches. During this time there were a total 242 port State detentions across all deficiency types.
Percentage breakdown of complaints received per regulation in 2015
Noting 2015 was the second full year after the implementation of the MLC it is notable that the rate of deficiencies and percentage of total deficiencies remained quite steady:
• in both 2014 and 2015 the deficiency rate per inspection related to MLC was 0.4 deficiencies per inspection.
• the number of MLC deficiencies recorded dropped from 1652 in 2014 to 1443 in 2015, however in view of the reduction in the total number of deficiencies from 10,892 in 2014 to 9484 in 2015 the relative percentage of MLC deficiencies increased marginally from 15.1% in 2014 to 15.2% in 2015.
Of the 347 detainable deficiencies issued in 2015, 26 were related to MLC requirements, accounting for 7.5 per cent of the total detainable deficiencies and making the category the sixth most prevalent cause of detention in 2015.
A comparison of the 2014 and 2015 results indicates that performance with respect to MLC remains relatively static over the two years suggesting consistency in the port State control inspections. An MLC inspection snapshot for 2015 and 2014 is provided in the following table:
Comparative MLC inspection snapshot for 2015 and 2014
Further details may be found by reading AMSA’s Annual Report on Port State Control for 2015
Source & Image credit: AMSA