Black Sea MOU Is Launching A New Inspection Regime From January 1st 2016
The decision to launch a new inspection regime by the Black Sea MOU at the start of 2016 (BS-IR [2016]) was made during the 16th meeting of the Port State Control Committee in Batumi, Georgia, in April 2015. The new inspection regime was agreed upon in order to further harmonize its risk-based targeting and inspection system in line with the leading memorandums Paris MOU and Tokyo MOU (see matrix in the appendix).
Ship risk profile
The new BS MOU Ship Risk Profile is replacing the existing targeting factor matrix. The New Inspection Regime groups ships into three different risk profiles:
- High Risk Ship (HRS)
- Standard Risk Ship (SRS)
- Low Risk Ship (LRS)
PSC inspection data and a ship’s historical data determine which of the above profile groups it is grouped into. The calculation of a ship’s risk profile will be made daily on the basis of cumulative data within a running 36-month period.
Inspection categories and time window
With the new inspection regime (BS-IR [2016]), there will be two categories of inspection: periodic inspections and additional inspections.
Periodic inspection
Inspection with a fixed time interval and a time window for when the inspection will be carried out.
Additional inspection
Triggered by overriding or unexpected factors, depending on the severity of occurrence. More information about this can be found in the annex to the Information Sheet of the BS-IR (2016).
Both periodic and additional inspections count equally and the time span for the next periodic inspection restarts after an additional inspection.
The time window for the periodic inspections will be determined by the Ship Risk Profile as follows:
- HRS: 2-4 months after the last inspection in the BS MOU region.
- SRS: 5-8 months after the last inspection in the BS MOU region.
- LRS: 9-18 months after the last inspection in the BS MOU region.
