Australia's Detention Rate Down

AMSA has released its annual report on port state control for 2015 saying that of the 242
foreign-flag vessels detained in 2015, Indonesia (with three) had the highest flag state detention rate of 23.7 percent.

However, where a flag is subject to a small number of inspections, a single detention can result in the flag state exceeding the average detention rate and this may not be an accurate measure of performance. More generally, AMSA says that for large flags that have been subject to more than 50 inspections, Antigua and Barbuda, Liberia, Malta and Cyprus are not performing as well as Singapore, Marshall Islands, China and Greece.

Ship performance improved significantly in 2015. Despite the 8.2 percent increase in the number of initial port state control inspections there was a 12.9 percent decrease in the number of deficiencies from 10,892 deficiencies in 2014 to 9,484 deficiencies in 2015. 

The most prevalent cause of detention for the period 2013 to 2015 relate to the safety management system required by the International Safety Management Code (29.7 percent). In 2015, material issues such as fire safety (15.9 percent), pollution prevention (11.2 percent), emergency systems (9.8 percent) and lifesaving appliances (8.6 percent) continue to be a significant cause of detention.

In 2015, AMSA received 132 Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) complaints pertaining to 217 alleged breaches in the living and working conditions on board vessels. These complaints were derived from a number of sources, including the seafarers themselves, other government agencies, seafarer welfare groups, agents, pilots and members of the general public with a vested interest in the welfare of seafarers. Following investigation of the complaints received, deficiencies were issued against 46 vessels and nine vessels were detained for MLC related breaches.

During the calendar year there were 27,344 ship arrivals by 5,644 foreign-flagged ships, 4,050 port state control inspections and 242 ship detentions. 

The report is available here.