Download PDF

1. The Directorate General of Shipping, GOI, has issued Engineering Circular No. 05 of 2017, dated 23 October 2017 (copy attached) providing revised procedures and reporting requirements wrt port state control inspections of Indian flagged vessels.

2. The above Circular supersedes and revokes the following DGS Circulars on the subject.

a. Engineering Circular 63 of 2005

b. PSC Circular 1 of 2005

c. PSC Circular 2 of 2005

d. PSC Circular 1 of 2007

e. Engineering Circular 96 of 2008

f. Engineering Circular 102 of 2009

g. Engineering Circular 126 of 2010

3. Salient points of the Circular are stated below.

 i. Reporting Requirements:

a. Shipping Companies are responsible to upload reports of port state inspection of their Indian flagged vessels on the DGS FSICS System at nic.in. Request for user ID and password to access the FSICS system can be made to the PSC Cell of the Directorate.

b. PSC inspection report must be uploaded within 7 days of inspection. In case of deficiencies, the follow up report must also be uploaded.

c. If a vessel is detained or the inspection is suspended, the inspection report must be uploaded within 24 hours and a scanned copy of the report is to be forwarded to the PSC cell of the Directorate by email at psc-dgs@nic.in

d. The RO Surveyors conducting Annual/Intermediate/Renewal surveys will verify the compliance to above reporting requirements and have been advised not to endorse the Statutory Certificates unless reports are uploaded on the FSICS.

e. The above procedure is implemented with immediate effect. All shipping companies must ensure within 15 days of the issuance of this circular that inspection reports of all PSC inspections of their vessels conducted thus far for the calendar year 2017 have been uploaded in the FSICS.

ii. Common procedures and Preventive Actions for Suspension of inspection / Detentions of vessels:

a. When an Indian flagged vessel is detained abroad, the ship owner/ company is obliged to inform the Port State Control Cell of the DGS at the earliest and not later than 24 hours from the time of such detentions. The scanned copy of inspection report is to be attached to the E-mail. The communication should clearly state whether the vessel inspection was suspended or the vessel was detained or both, as the case may be.

b. Master and Chief Engineer are required to provide an explanation of the causes which led to this detention / suspension including lessons learnt. The explanation and lessons learnt is to be forwarded by vessels e-mail directly to the PSC cell of the Directorate at psc-dgs@nic.in along with the previous two reviews of the Ship Safety Management System (Master’s review) and handing over reports of the last Master and Chief Engineer, within 7 days of the release of the vessel from detention / suspension.

c. DPA of the detained/ suspended vessel is required to prepare a corrective and preventive action report which is to be reviewed by concerned RO/Administration auditor who conducted the last Safety Management Audit of the vessel. The DPA must report to the Directorate along with the reviewed CA/PA report, within 15 days of the release of the vessel from suspension/detention for a face to face interaction with the competent authority (Chief Surveyor). If required by the competent authority, CEO may be called along with the DPA.

iii. Procedure for corrective/preventive action after suspension of inspection:

a. Where a PSC inspection is suspended on the requirement of a detailed inspection and wherein the overall condition of the vessel and its equipment and crew condition are found to be substandard, the vessel should not be offered to the PSC for re-inspection unless:

• Owners have carried out a complete Superintendent Inspection and an Internal SMC Audit of the vessel.

• The Recognized Organization which has not conducted the last Annual surveys, conducted a General Examination to the scope of Annual surveys. All deficiencies identified during General Examination (GE) along with Port State Inspection deficiencies is to be rectified prior offering for re-inspection to the Port State Control. No new Condition of Class is to be imposed without prior permission from the Directorate. The GE arising of such PSC inspection shall be an additional GE and the report is to be uploaded on DGS FSICS by the concerned RO carrying out the GE.

b. An Additional SMC Audit of the vessel is to be conducted by the RO prior vessel leaving the port where the inspection was suspended.

c. Further as a preventive action, the Directorate requires;

• An additional DOC audit of the Company and
• A GE/FSI of the vessel once every six months for next one year.

iv. Procedure for corrective/preventive action after 1st detention:

a. A general examination is to be carried out to verify satisfactory closure of all deficiencies given by the Port State Control. Attending RO Surveyor may recommend a general examination to the scope of an annual survey and an additional Safety Management Audit of the vessel to the Directorate if he finds the vessel below standard.

b. Based on the PSC deficiencies and/or RO recommendations, the Directorate may impose an additional General Examination and/or SMS Audit, which is to be conducted at next port of call.

v. Procedure for corrective/ preventive action after 2nd detention within last two years (counted backwards from the date of detention):

Vessel is subjected to the procedures followed for “Corrective/preventive action after suspension of inspection” as detailed in Section “iii” above.

vi. Procedure in case of Banned Vessels:

If a vessel is banned by a Port State Control or by a specific Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) authority, the Competent Authority may order:

a. A re-examination of the Safety Management Certificate (SMC) by the ISM Cell of the Directorate, resulting in its possible withdrawal.

b. Proceedings to delete the vessel from the Registry.

vii. Detention during weekends:

In case a vessel is detained or inspection is suspended during a weekend and the vessel is expected to sail before the end of the said weekend, the ship owner may approach the in-charge of the PSC Cell of the Directorate and the DGCOM CENTRE with all factual details, so that a temporary support, if needed, can be provided to the ship owner.

Ship owners/ operators and masters are advised to be guided by above.

Enclosure:

1. DGS Engineering Circular No. 05 of 2017, dated 23 October 2017.

Disclaimer:

This Technical Circular and the material contained in it is provided only for the purpose of supplying current information to the reader and not as an advice to be relied upon by any person. While we have taken utmost care to be as factual as possible, readers/ users are advised to verify the exact text and content of the Regulation from the original source/ issuing Authority.

 Download PDF