The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MoU) successfully concluded its 59th Committee meeting in Glasgow, held from 18 to 22 May 2026. The meeting was formally opened by Ms. Virginia McVea, Chief Executive Officer of the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and chaired by Mr. Brian Hogan. The discussions marked significant progress in further enhancing maritime safety, environmental protection, and seafarer welfare.

On a broader strategic level, the Committee noted satisfactory progress on the follow-up actions from the 2017 Vancouver Joint Ministerial Conference. In line with these long-term strategic goals, in light of previously agreed amendments to the Paris MOU and with the amended EU Port State Control Directive effective 6 July 2027, significant advances were made to progress these amendments for an aligned commencement date. This alignment will introduce various updates, most notably changes to flag State and Recognized Organisation (RO) performance calculations and new environmental parameters within the Ship Risk Profile. The necessity of these evolving measures was underscored by the official 2025 statistics. The Committee noted a continuous rise in the detention rate to 4.18% in 2025 (up from 4.03% in 2024 and 3.81% in 2023), reinforcing the critical role of Port State Control as a vital safety net.
This safety net faces additional challenges from deceptive maritime practices, which the Committee discussed with concern. The growing number of ships operating with fraudulent registrations and certificates has prompted the Committee to develop practical guidance for handling different scenarios of suspected ships, ensuring a harmonised regional response to counter these practices. Concurrently, given the inherent limitations of PSC in addressing risks from ships that intentionally avoid calling at Paris MoU ports, the Committee reiterated the urgent need for enhanced international cooperation and ongoing information exchange.

A key outcome of the meeting was the decision to initiate a process to develop a harmonised, voluntary Port State Control approach for fishing vessels of 24 metres in length and over. A dedicated task force will now develop the core elements required to support this initiative.
Alongside this important decision, the Committee extensively focused on the wider harmonisation of inspection procedures and the continuous enhancement of the Paris MoU’s internal training initiatives. In addition, the Committee considered ways to assist other regional Port State Control MoUs in training their Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) by providing experts and through exchange programmes.

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