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A Comparative Analysis of Vessels Detained under the PSC Agreements of Paris, Tokyo and Viña del Mar



Author(s)

Francisco Piniella, Emilio Rodríguez-Díaz and Juan Ignacio Alcaide

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5879/2014.06.001

Twenty years ago, in 1992, the International Maritime Organization set the objective of extending the regional Port State Control agreements to the world scale. This would be achieved, it was hoped, by “exporting” the model of the Paris MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) agreement of 1982 to other regional areas. Now would seem to be a good time to consider the prospects for a future scenario where all the countries involved form a truly global network with uniform procedures. The authors of this article put forward an earlier objective that could be the beginning of that global policy, from a detailed look at the three most important regional agreements (Paris, Tokyo and Viña del Mar) that encompass geographically the following areas, respectively: Europe plus Canada, the Asia-Pacific, and South America. To this end, we first make a theoretical comparison based on the legal standards of application, and then present a study made of all the vessels detained under the three agreements, with a view to determining whether or not there are different kinds of behaviours, with regard to the flags and “recognised organizations” used by the vessels to certify their levels of safety. The numerical variables we have taken as basic with respect to compliance with the international standards are: the date that the vessel’s keel was laid (age of the vessel) and as significant categorical variables, the type of vessel, the flag, the typology of that flag, the corresponding classification society, and whether or not that society is a member of the IACS (International Association of Classification Societies). The results show a similar trend between the Paris and Tokyo agreements, but in the case of Viña del Mar, the level of efficacy in the control appears to be insufficient in comparison with the standard of the other two.

Port state control, flags of convenience, maritime safety, globalization.