DEFINITION OF MARINE TERMS RELATED TO PSC

 DEFINITIONS

Clear grounds: Evidence that the ship, its crew or its safety management system does not comply with the requirements of the relevant conventions. Such evidence needs not necessarily be a deficiency, but may be an incident, and accident or and indication of substantial non-compliance/detainable deficiencies.

Deficiency: Non-compliance, discrepancy or deviation from the requirements of the relevant instruments/conventions.

Detainable Deficiency: A deficiency that presents an immediate threat to the ship, its personnel or the environment, which renders the ship unsafe to proceed to sea.

Detention: Intervention action taken by the port State in case of detainable deficiencies or substantial non-compliance to ensure that the ship does not sail until detainable deficiencies have been rectified.

Expanded inspection: An inspection conducted according to non-mandatory guidelines only once during 12 months period for certain types of ships (tankers, bulkers and passenger ships) and certain categories of age and size.

Inspection: A visit on board a ship to check both the validity of relevant certificates and other documents, and the overall condition of the ship, its equipment, and its crew.

More detailed inspection: An inspection conducted when there are clear grounds for believing that the condition of the ship, its equipment, or its crew does not comply with the requirements of the relevant conventions. The inspection may focus on one area or be across various areas.

Serious Deficiency: A deficiency that may present an immediate threat to the ship, its personnel or the environment, and that could be qualified as a detainable deficiency.

Stoppage of an operation: Formal prohibition against a ship to continue an operation due to identified deficiency that, singly or together, render the continuation of such operation hazardous.

Substandard ship: A ship whose hull, machinery, equipment, or operational safety is substantially below the standards required by the relevant convention or whose crew is not in conformance with the safe manning document.

Suspension of an Inspection :In exceptional circumstances, where the overall condition of a ship, its equipment or the working or living conditions of the crew were found to be obviously substandard, the PSCO may suspend an inspection. In such cases, the port State should notify the flag State of the suspension without delay. The suspension would continue until the deficiencies identified by the PSCO have been rectified, as instructed.