This report summarizes the PSC activities of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and reports on the performance of commercial shipping companies, flag States and Classification Societies for the 2018 calendar year.
The PSC inspection results for 2018 indicated a slight increase in the detention rate of vessels to 5.5 per cent. Despite a similar number of detentions in 2017, 2018 had a significantly lower rate of deficiencies with an average of 1.8 deficiencies per inspection. The small variance in the detention rate and decrease in deficiencies per inspection emphasizes the benefit in maintaining a consistent and rigorous PSC inspection regime.
Ships and operators with a record of poor performance can be banned from entering or using Australian ports under section 246 of the Navigation Act 20121. In 2018, AMSA banned three ships for periods ranging from 3 to 12 months. Two of these bans involved significant breaches of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC).
This report has a section dedicated to MLC on the basis this is reported separately to the International Labour Organization (ILO) as this Convention was adopted under the auspices of that body. The PSC processes used for inspections in accordance with the MLC, and expectations with regard to compliance, are well established with the MLC having been in effect since 13 August 2013. This is demonstrated by the ongoing reduction in the total number of MLC deficiencies and deficiencies per inspection since 2014.
2018 summary of PSC activity:
- During
the calendar year there were:
– 29,094 ship arrivals by 5900 foreign-flagged ships
– 2922 PSC inspections
– 161 ship detentions. - Bulk carriers accounted for 49.3 per cent of ship arrivals and 54.3 per cent of PSC inspections.
- PSC inspections were carried out at 51 Australian ports.
- The average gross tonnage per visit was 51,808 GT compared to 51,612 GT in 2017.
- The average age of vessels in 2018 was 10 years, compared to nine in 2017 and 2016.
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