For the second year running, Nigeria has maintained her lead over other African countries in Port State Control regime with a total of 636 of ship inspections carried out in 2018, as against 350 inspections in 2017.
In the Abuja Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control for West and Central Africa region, 2018 report, which was obtained by Shipping Position Daily yesterday, Nigeria, beats South Africa to second position with a total of 327 inspections for the year under review.
Port State Control (PSC) is the inspection of foreign ships in national ports to verify that the condition of the ship and ascertain if its equipment comply with the requirements of international regulations and that the ship is manned and operated in compliance with these rules.
In the 2018 report, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal were at the bottom of the table with three and 24 inspection of vessels respectively for 2018.
On the total number of inspection of vessels, 2,409 were inspected in 2018 as against 2074 in 2017.
A breakdown of the number of vessels detailed after inspection in 2018, showed that Nigeria inspected 13 of the 14 inspections while Ghana carried out only one.
The number of inspection of vessels with deficiencies for the year under review was 224 while 174 were recorded in 2107.
Although, the number of vessel detention for last year, was two less than that of 2017 as 14 vessels were detained in 2018 while 16 was recorded in 2017.
A total of 727 vessel deficiencies were recorded in 2018, while 587 were also recorded in 2017 in the continent.
A further breakdown showed that while a total of 339 vessel deficiencies were recorded by Nigeria, 193 deficiencies were also recorded by South Africa and Senegal 122 deficiencies in 2018.
In report, the Secretary General of Abuja MoU, Mrs Mfon Usoro was reported to have said that analysis of the MoU's performance between 2010- 2018 indicates unbroken incremental improvement by member Administrations of the MoU in every aspect of port State control activity, evidencing the commitment by member States to rid our waters of substandard ships, improve the standard of welfare of shipboard officers and crew and stem the pollution of our region's waters.
She said: “Membership of the MoU grew to 17 full and active member States in the period under review, with the admission of Cote d'Ivoire, Angola, Sao Tome & Principe, South Africa, Guinea Bissau, Cabo Verde and Liberia.
“The introduction of participatory governance through the establishment of Abuja MoU Technical Working Groups (TWGs) comprised of member States with specific terms of reference has proved an effective tool in facilitating the development and adoption of instruments for harmonization and coordination of port State control procedures in the region.
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