What to do after a PSC detention
A ship is detained when the port State control officer finds deficiencies that make it unsafe to sail, put the crew at risk or threaten the environment. On the report those lines carry action code 30 (what the codes mean). From that moment the ship stays in port until the officer accepts that the grounds are gone.
This guide is for the office and the ship in the hours and days after.
The first hours
- Get the full report. Form A (the inspection) and Form B (the deficiencies with codes and actions). Check that the ship particulars, the codes and the RO marking are right, and note anything you disagree with while the officer is still on board.
- Tell the people who must know. Flag administration, the classification society (it will usually be informed by the port State too, especially if a deficiency is marked RO related), the P&I club, the charterer and the agent. Your contract and the flag's rules say who and how fast.
- Split the list. Code 30 lines first: these hold the ship. Then 17 (before departure), then the rest with their due dates.
- Book the help. Service companies for fire, life-saving or navigation equipment, class surveyors for structural or machinery items, the flag for any dispensation. Many detentions drag on because the technician is a day away, not because the repair is hard.
Rectification and re-inspection
Fix each ground for detention and collect the evidence: service reports, class reports, new certificates, photos, updated records. When the ship is ready, ask the authority for the follow-up inspection. The officer checks the detainable items and releases the ship if they are dealt with.
Sometimes a full repair is impossible in that port. The authority may then agree that the ship sails to a named repair yard, under conditions agreed with the flag and the class. Keep to them exactly; the next port is told.
Follow-up inspections after a detention are charged in many States. The Tokyo MOU publishes the fees member authorities charge; other regimes have similar rules. Budget for it and for the days at berth.
If you disagree
Talk to the officer first. If that doesn't resolve it, the company has the right of appeal under the port State's national law, and the large MoUs also run a detention review procedure that the flag or the RO can ask for when they believe the detention was not justified. It doesn't release the ship faster: the review looks at whether the detention should stay on the record. Read the time limits on your MoU's appeals page early, they are short.
What a detention does to the record
- It is published. Detentions appear on the MoU's public lists and databases, where charterers, vetting inspectors and banks look.
- It raises the risk profile. Detentions in the last 36 months weigh on the ship's risk profile and on the company's performance, which makes the next inspections more frequent (how the profile works).
- Repeated detentions can lead to a ban. Under Paris MoU rules a ship that keeps being detained can be refused access to the region's ports. The current bannings list shows how that ends.
- RO related lines count against the class society's performance record and usually start a conversation with it.
After the ship sails
Close the remaining deficiencies by their due dates and keep the evidence with the report. Then look at the root cause: a detention is almost always a symptom of something the safety management system missed, and an ISM-related deficiency on the same report says so in writing. Record the corrective action and check it at the next audit. If the same equipment caused the detention, put it on the pre-arrival checklist for the next port in the same region (preparing for PSC).