Bereich Hafenstaatkontrolle
Brandstwiete 1
20457 Hamburg
Phone: +49 40 361 37-297 (office hours)/+49 40 361 37-100 (24h)
Fax: +49 40 361 37-295
Mail: psc-germany@bg-verkehr.de
Mike Meklenburg
Phone: +49 40 361 37-202
Mail: mike.meklenburg@bg-verkehr.de
Ranking: Flag states · Classification societies
- Deficiencies found on 50% of inspected ships
- Ranking of flag states
- Ranking of classification societies (ROs)
- Implications of rankings
Around 50% of the ships inspected have deficiencies
Every year port State control officers (PSCOs) of the Ship Safety Division of the BG Verkehr perform around 1,000 to 1,300 port State control (PSC) inspections in German ports. About half of the inspected ships have deficiencies. On about 4% of all inspected ships, the deficiencies are so serious that the PSCOs have to detain these ships.
Every year during summer, the secretariat of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris MoU) publishes an Annual Report with detailed statistical data on the port State control of the precious year. The Statistical Annexes to this Annual Report contain information about port State control in German ports, among other data. In addition, PSC results by year, month, type of ship, risk profile and flag of the ships are given on the website of the Paris MoU.
Ranking of flag states
During many port state control inspections deficiencies of ships are discovered by the specially trained surveyors. Major deficiencies have to be rectified immediately. Occasionally port state control officers even have to detain a ship.
The results of all port state control inspections are collected and evaluated with regard to the performance of flag states and classification societies. Regularly published in form of lists, these „rankings“ reveal to the public whether ships flying a certain flag or classed by a certain classification society are notorious for frequent deficiencies or have a more satisfactory record.
The ranking of flag states is based on the following three different lists:
- The „White list“ contains only flag states of ships which have given no or little cause for concern.
- The „Grey list“ contains flag states with an average performance.
- The „Black list“ contains flag states of ships which have shown an excessive number of deficiencies.
Each year these lists are newly established. The ranking is calculated by relating the number of detentions to the number of inspections over the previous three years.
Flag States: Current ranking (White, Grey and Black lists) for Paris MoU
Ranking of classification societies
The ranking of classification societies (also known as recognized organization - RO) is determined by the number of deficiencies which have caused detentions of ships. These deficiencies are allotted to the respective RO if it inspected the ship shortly before the port state inspection or if the deficiencies were obviously already in place during the last inspection by the RO.
Classification Societies, i.e. Recognized Organizations: Current ranking for Paris MoU
Implications of rankings
The rankings of a flag state and of a classification society have major implications for the inspection and the targeting of ships subjected to port state control. Ships flying the flag of a „blacklisted“ flag state and/or classed by a low ranking classification society are inspected more frequently and more thoroughly. Further information can be found at "Inspection system".