The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MoU) held its 47th Committee meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 19 - 23 May 2014 under the chairmanship of Mr. Brian Hogan. The meeting was attended by all members, the European Commission, EMSA, Montenegro, observers from the ILO, US Coast Guard, Black Sea MoU, Caribbean MoU, Mediterranean MoU, Tokyo MoU and Viña del Mar Agreement.

Since the implementation of the new inspection regime on 1st of January, 2011, there is a clear indication that it is showing positive results. The Committee agreed to seek further improvements, including the recording of convention references for all deficiencies by the 1st of July 2014.

The report of the Harmonized Verification Programme (HAVEP) on passenger ships, carried out in 2013, was presented to PSCC47. The objective of the HAVEP was to obtain a view of emergency preparedness on passenger ships following the Costa Concordia accident in January 2012.

Whilst the results of the HAVEP indicate reasonable overall compliance with the SOLAS requirements for passenger ships, both from an operational point of view and safety equipment. “The two main areas of concern on a passenger ship are fire and flooding. If the situation escalates out of control, the ship must be able to be safely abandoned”, Mr. Richard Schiferli, Secretary General of the Paris MoU said. The results of the HAVEP indicate that masters and operators must pay attention to carrying out regular realistic fire and abandon ship drills.
The results of the HAVEP will be published and submitted to the IMO next year.

High importance was given to the Concentrated Inspection Campaigns (CICs). Jointly with the Tokyo MoU a CIC on hours of rest in accordance with the provisions of the STCW Convention is scheduled from September to November, this year. A CIC focussing on Crew Familiarisation and Entry of Enclosed Spaces is planned in 2015. In addition, the Committee considered a number of options for other joint CICs with the Tokyo MoU for 2016 and beyond.

The report of the CIC on Propulsion and Auxiliary Machinery, carried out in September to November of 2013, was presented to PSCC47. Overall it was concluded that in general there was a good level of compliance with the SOLAS requirements covered by the scope of the CIC. The results will be published and submitted to the IMO.

The Committee adopted the 2013 Annual Report, including the new White, Grey and Black List and the performance list of Recognised Organisations. This year Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland moved from the “Grey List” to the “White List”. The lists will be published early June and used for targeting purposes starting 1st July 2014. The Annual Report will be published by the end of July this year.

Mr. Brian Hogan from Ireland was unanimously re-elected as Chairman of the Port State Control Committee for a 4th period. The Vice-Chairman, Mr. Vitaly Klyuev from Russia, was also unanimously re-elected for the next three years. On behalf of the Member States, Mr. Hogan concluded the meeting by remarking that significant progress has been made during this meeting and welcomed the Abuja MoU and Indian Ocean MoU as observers. He thanked all member States, the European Commission/EMSA and the Paris MoU Secretariat for their contribution. In particular Mr. Hogan thanked the Maritime Administration of Lithuania, for the excellent arrangements they made for this Committee meeting in Vilnius.