Tokyo MoU PSC Annual Report 2023

According to the report, year 2023 is the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Tokyo MOU. During the past three decades, the number of member Authorities has doubled, and the number of inspections conducted annually has increased by four times since the inception of the Tokyo MOU.

The Tokyo MOU has been uniquely successful in developing and implementing comprehensive technical cooperation programmes in which more than 4,000 PSC officers in the region have participated.

The Tokyo MOU, through its effective and successful operation, has played important role for the elimination of substandard shipping in the region, which has been proved by the decreased trend of casualty rate and its strong correlation with the detention rate, a key effectiveness indicator for PSC inspections. The Tokyo MOU is proud of the developments and achievements made over the 30 years.

In its Annual Report for 2023, the Tokyo MoU indicated that conducted 30,887 inspections, involving 18,298 individual ships. Out of 30,887 inspections, there were 18,806 inspections where ships were found with deficiencies.

Concentrated inspection campaign (CIC) on Fire Safety

The concentrated inspection campaign (CIC) on Fire Safety was conducted from 1 September to 30 November 2023 jointly with the Paris MoU.

During the CIC period, a total of 8,273 PSC inspections were conducted by the member Authorities, of which 7,190 (86.91%) were with a CIC inspection. A total of 2,860 CIC-related deficiencies were found on 1,287 ships representing 17.90% of the CIC inspections.

The highest compliance was observed on means of control for power ventilation of machinery spaces operable from two grouped positions with 99.69% positive result, which indicates a high level of compliance in this area. The highest levels of non-compliance were found on fire drills, where 8.44% of those drills, witnessed as part of the CIC, were unsatisfactory.

88 ships subject to the CIC inspection were detained as a direct result of the campaign.

Comparing the 1.22% CIC related detention rate and the 3.77% overall detention rate during the period, the outcome of the CIC indicates a high level of compliance with fire safety areas related to the CIC.

Detentions

A ship is detained when the condition of the ship of its crew does not correspond substantially with the applicable conventions. Such strong action is to ensure that the ship cannot sail until it can proceed to sea without presenting a danger to the ship or persons on board, and/or without presenting an unreasonable threat of harm to the marine environment.

In 2023, from 30,887 inspections, 1,334 ships registered under 71 flags were detained due to serious deficiencies having been found onboard. The detention rate of ships inspected was 4.32%.

Deficiencies

Where conditions on board are found that are not in compliance with the requirements of the relevant instruments by the port State control officers, these are recorded as deficiencies and required to be rectified.

A total of 75,867 deficiencies were recorded in 2023.

The deficiencies found are categorized and shown in Figure 7 and Table 7. It has been noted that fire safety measures, lifesaving appliances and safety of navigation continue to be the top three categories of deficiencies discovered on ships.

In 2023, 15,562 deficiencies related to fire safety measures, 10,193 deficiencies related to life-saving appliances and 8,803 deficiencies related to safety of navigation were recorded, representing 46% of the total number of all recorded deficiencies. It is noted that, as a result of the CIC on Fire Safety, deficiencies related to fire safety measures doubled compared to the previous year. In addition, categories of deficiencies on life-saving appliances, propulsion, and auxiliary machinery, MARPOL Annexes I, IV and VI increased substantially in 2023.

Performance of Recognized Organizations

Panama Maritime Documentation Services (PMDS) maintain its position as High-Performance Recognized Organization, as per the information of the Table 13 of the TMoU Annual Report 2023.

This is the result of the improvement of the fleet supervision conducted by the PMDS Technical Department, in conjunction with their surveyors around the world.

Refer to the Tables 12 and 13.