US Coast Guard Releases Annual Port State Control Report

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has published its Annual Port State Control (PSC) Report and Annual Class Performance List for 2010. Germanischer Lloyd (GL) is again in the top performing group with a detention ratio of 0%. In over 1,000 distinct vessel arrivals there was no determination of class responsibility in any USCG detention of GL classed vessels.

Overall arrivals were slightly down from 2008 and 2009, with 1,134 and 1,172 arrivals respectively, to 1,112 distinct vessel arrivals in 2010. Notably, GL is the only Recognised Organisation (RO) with more than 1,000 arrivals in each of the last 3 years to have no class related detentions assessed.

Maintaining ship safety, environmental protection and operating systems year on year is essential in a climate of increased maritime scrutiny, and greater environmental awareness. The importance of rigour assessment services by ROs, is made plain by the introduction of a ban system in the US for vessels which repeatedly violate international regulations. Three ships were banned in 2010.

The report noted a decrease in the number of detentions related to safety and environmental protection systems of 11% over the last three years.

Coast Guard Process

Coast Guard units report all detentions of foreign flagged vessels to Coast Guard Headquarters for review. During this review process, the Coast Guard determines whether the RO, by virtue of the statutory activities conducted on behalf of the Flag Administration, has to be seen as responsible for any detainable deficiency. Deficiencies may be found in the structure, equipment, plans and manuals of vessels, or in the failure to systematically implement ISM Code requirements. At the end of each calendar year, the Coast Guard evaluates each ROs performance and calculates their detention ratio.

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Source: GL, June 6, 2011.