Implications of port state control tackled in new guidebook

The UK Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Club has produced a comprehensive guide to promote awareness of the growing impact of port state control (PSC) on shipowners and mariners.

The club said many shipowners were not aware of what to expect in individual ports in terms of regulations and their enforcement by the regional authorities.

Herry Lawford, the UK P&I Club's service director, said: 'Many flag states have shirked their responsibility for the enforcement of the existing conventions and are seen as not having the necessary will or reach to enforce the new ones.

'PSC has become an important second layer of policing which is having a notable effect in North America, Europe and the major Asian and Australasian countries,' he said.

Ports are already enforcing the International Maritime Organisation's international convention on standards of training, certification and watchkeeping for seafarers, and will also enforce the International Safety Management code when it becomes mandatory from July 1.

Ships which do not comply can be detained and fined by port authorities worldwide.