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Paris MOU's Enclosed Space Performance Satisfactory

enclosed space entry

Published Feb 22, 2016 3:26 PM by The Maritime Executive

Port state control officers in the Tokyo MOU and Paris MOU regions performed a joint Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on Crew Familiarization for Enclosed Space Entry last year, and the CIC did not lead to an increase in detention rate.

The CIC was conducted between September 1 to November 30, and Paris MOU said in a statement that, in general, the results of the CIC indicate that enclosed space entry is taken seriously by the industry. However, the actual compliance, shown in drills, could be better. 7.9 percent of drills were found to be unsatisfactory.

“A satisfactory result regarding the detention percentage, but work to be done”, says Secretary General Richard Schiferli. “Both industry and port state control officers should continue to pay attention to enclosed space entry.” The effort should be directed especially on the training of the crew and the correct execution of drills.

Preliminary results show that 3,776 inspections were performed using the CIC questionnaire. Of those inspections, 54 detentions have CIC-topic-related deficiencies. The total number of detentions in the three-month period was 160.

Earlier this month, the Indian Ocean MOU announced that eight ships were detained during its CIC on Crew Familiarization for Enclosed Space Entry.

Preliminary results showed that the Indian Ocean MOU inspected 1,454 individual ships resulting in 83 detentions. 

The most significant deficiencies found related to issues with:

1. Training in the use of the equipment by the crew members responsible for testing the atmosphere in enclosed spaces (four percent)
2. Crew members responsible for enclosed space emergency duties, familiar with those duties (four percent)
3. Availability of the training manual on board and its contents complete and customized to the ship (17 percent)
4. Participation of ship’s crew in an enclosed space entry and rescue drill on board the ship at least once every two months in accordance with SOLAS Chapter III, Regulation 19.3.3 (four percent)
5. Outcome of the enclosed space entry and rescue drill and compliance with the requirements of SOLAS Chapter III, Regulation 19.3.6 (five percent).

The results of the campaign will be presented to the 19th meeting of the Port State Control Committee in September 2016, after which the reports will be submitted to the International Maritime Organization.