Caribbean Port State Control flags inspection concerns

The Caribbean Port State Control (CPSC) has high on its agenda ocean-going vessels still failing inspections, Chairman of the quality control and regulatory mechanism Michel Amafo said on Tuesday.

Shortly after the formal opening of the 31st CPSC annual meeting at the AC Marriott, Ogle, East Coast Demerara, he said delegates would not only evaluate decisions taken at the last meeting and approve the budget but address major gaps being seen during inspection of vessels.

“The major things we are seeing during inspections is inspection deficiencies related to life-saving appliances, firefighting, seamen engagement agreements and also some issues with fraudulent certificates, false registries and false flags; those are all issues that we are seeing,” Mr Amafo told Demerara Waves Online News.

Asked what the CPSC was doing when suspected false flags are encountered, he said the country is contacted to verify and if the flag is false “that ship will be detained.”

Guyana’s maritime minister Deodat Indar asked delegates to discuss “rogue operators” using the Guyana flag and arrive at a united approach.

“We will like to make sure that we work with our partners to make sure that we clamp this down. It is a scourge on the shipping industry and sometimes Guyana’s name is called in things that we don’t participate in,” he said.

At the opening of the conference, he praised the CPSC’s work over the past 10 years, crediting successes to digitisation, stronger integration with the international system and more structured inspection practices.

Minister Indar said failed inspections could lead to vessels running aground or sinking and people’s lives are put at risk at sea.

“Today, we are witnessing measurable improvements in compliance with international maritime convention and greater consistency in inspection practices across member states,” he said.

Mr Indar said Guyana last year conducted 12 physical port state control inspections and vetted 286 vessels through its online clearance system for operation with the offshore oil blocks.

The maritime minister pointed out that the same shipping lines had been plying the Guyana route for decades, but use the same fleet to transport three times the volume of cargo.