Paris MOU to crack down on tankers

by Bella Hili

The executive committee of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control has announced its intention to carry out a concentrated inspection campaign on oil tankers from September to November this year. This decision was prompted by the Erika oil spill. The Paris MOU's campaign will target oil tankers over 15 years old, and in excess of 3,000 gross tonnes. It will focus on structural and operational aspects.

Alan Cubbin, chairman of the Paris Mou Port State Control Committee, said when announcing this decision: "It is very important that the port state control regime sends out a very strong and clear message that only tankers of the highest quality can expect to operate into Paris MOU ports. The checklist we have developed covers aspects of the ship's operation and also the inspection of both ballast and cargo tanks when they are available for entry."

The Paris Memorandum of Understanding is a voluntary international grouping of port authorities, which enforces compliance with safety rules, where ship owners and flag States fail to do so. Member authorities can inspect visiting ships, require defects to be put right, and detain vessels if they deem it necessary.

Though there is the right to appeal, this does not mean that the detention will be lifted immediately. Ships flying the flag of a State which appears in the three-year rolling average table of above-average detentions and delays, compiled by the Paris MOU, are given priority for inspection.

Thirteen EU member States, Canada, Croatia, Poland, Norway, and Russia are signatories to the Paris MOU, which was adopted in 1982. Iceland joins in July, while Slovenia is a cooperating member. The Port State Control Committee is the executive body.

The European Commission is not a signatory to the MOU, but is a member of the committee, while the International Maritime Organisation and the International Labour Organisation participate as observers when the committee meets.

The United States Coastguard is officially associated with the Paris MOU in the capacity of a "cooperating maritime authority". Representatives of the Tokyo MOU, the regional port state control system in the Asia-Pacific region, also attend meetings.

Over 16,000 inspections take place on board visiting ships in Paris MOU ports. But this new move, billed as being part of "continuing efforts to eradicate sub-standard ships", greatly increases the weighting given to the poorest-performing flag States. A three-tier system of rating for flag States will range from "black flag" for the worst, through to grey and white. Based on this rating, ships will be given low, medium and high priority for inspection. The intention, says the Paris MOU committee, is to focus resources on what are described as "the worst ships".

The Paris MOU has also ratified an agreement to supply information to a new database on ship safety, called Equasis, which is being developed by the European Commission and several governments.

In a similar campaign, carried out between April and June last year, which targeted bulk carriers over 30,000 gross tonnes and more than 15 years old, 79 vessels were inspected, and 10 of these were Malta-flagged. The number of structural defects found in these Malta-flagged carriers was listed as 19, but there were no detentions. A standard questionnaire was used by Port State Control Officers to test the key elements of the vessel structure and operations. Inspections included an examination of cargo holds and ballast tanks - areas which are not normally inspected because of time and cargo constraints. In another campaign the previous year, held in conjunction with the Tokyo MOU, Malta-flagged vessels had a detention rate of 4.3, compared to the highest at 16.4 (Turkey) and the lowest at 1.0 (Norway).

Bella Hili is shipping consultant at the Zimmermann House Group, Ta' Xbiex.