Port state control
The inspection of foreign ships by the authorities of the port where they call, to check compliance with international conventions, with the power to detain substandard ships.
The flag state bears first responsibility for the safety of its ships, but some registries exercise little control. Port state control corrects this weakness: each state inspects foreign ships entering its ports, checks their certificates, the condition of the hull and equipment, and crew living conditions, and may detain them until serious deficiencies are corrected. States cooperate within regional memoranda, which share a database, target inspections by a risk profile accounting for flag, classification society, age and history of the ship, and publish lists of detained and banned ships. For hull insurers and P&I clubs, this data is an underwriting source: a history of detentions signals poor management and higher loss risk, and a detention can cause uncovered loss of income.
The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control, signed on January 26, 1982 by fourteen European states, served as a model for other regions; after the Erika sank in 1999, the European Union tightened targeting and introduced bans on repeat substandard ships.
Follow the research
One letter a week. First, the week's underwriting note, when one is published: a dated, argued decision, signed by Paul Bernardski. Then what the observatory published on cyber risk, political risk and insurance. No account, no tracking.
No spam, one-click unsubscribe, no data ever sold.