Ship Fires in the Crosshairs of Ship Inspection Campaign

The Member Authorities of the Tokyo and the Paris Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control will launch a joint Concentrated
Inspection Campaign (CIC) on Fire Safety to create awareness among the ship’s crew and owners about the importance of fire safety measures; and  to verify that the ship complies with fire safety requirements under the relevant IMO instruments.

The three-month inspection campaign will commence September 1, 2023 and end November 30, 2023, and will be a campaign to examine specific areas related to fire safety in conjunction with the regular Port State Control inspection. A ship will be subject to only one inspection under this CIC during the period of the campaign.

Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) will use a pre-defined questionnaire (see below) to assess that fire-fighting systems and equipment comply with the relevant requirements, that the master and crew members are familiar with operations relating to fire safety, and that equipment is properly maintained and functioning. If deficiencies are found, actions by the port State may vary from recording a deficiency and instructing the master to rectify it within a certain period of time to detaining the ship until the serious deficiencies have been rectified. In the case of detention,
publication in the monthly detention lists of the Tokyo and Paris MoU websites will take place.

The results of the campaign will be analyzed and findings will be presented to the governing bodies of both MoUs for possible submission to the IMO.