Strong Commitment to Enclosed Spaces Safety

The Toyko MOU has released the results of its enclosed spaces concentrated inspection campaign (CIC) saying there appeared to be a strong commitment to safety from ship operators in relation to enclosed space entry. 

In 96 percent of CIC inspections, there was evidence of the ship’s crew having participated in an enclosed space entry and rescue drill at least once every two months in accordance with SOLAS requirements.

Satisfactory responses to all 10 port state control questions were received in 74 percent of CIC inspections. Unsatisfactory responses resulted in 1,584 deficiencies being issued.

The CIC on Crew Familiarization for Enclosed Space Entry was carried out between September 1 and November 30, 2015. 

Preliminary results show that 6,826 inspections were conducted by member states in the Tokyo MOU using the CIC questionnaire, covering ships from 75 flag states.

During the CIC inspections, port state control officers were required to observe an enclosed space entry drill where practicable. 4,487 such drills were observed during the campaign and of these, 93 percent were conducted to a satisfactory standard.

Preliminary results from the Paris MOU showed that 3,776 inspections were performed using the CIC questionnaire. Of those inspections, 54 detentions had CIC-topic-related deficiencies. The Indian Ocean MOU inspected 1,454 ships resulting in eight detentions.

Final reports from the individual MOUs will be submitted to the Port State Control Committee meeting being held in Australia in October 2016, after which the reports will be submitted to the IMO.