The US Coast Guard’s Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance has released its annual US Port State Control Report for 2022, with Latvia having the highest detention ratio, ahead of Bolivia.
The report lists the highest risk flag administrations according to their 2020-2022 arrest ratio as: Latvia (57.14%), Bolivia (31.25%), Togo (7.69%), Curacao (4 .88%), Italy (3.39%), Turkey (2.90%). %) and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (2.30%).
Medium risk flag administrations were Cyprus, Antigua and Barbuda, Canada, the Bahamas and the Isle of Man.
Administrations removed from last year’s target list were: Belgium, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Portugal, Israel, Tanzania, Vanuatu, Mexico and Panama.
In 2022, the Coast Guard conducted 8,706 SOLAS security checks with a total of 78 arrests. The annual arrest rate increased from 0.73% to 0.89%. The average three-year arrest ratio decreased from 0.87% to 0.80%.
This year’s data shows that the number of arrests related to fire safety has increased. The accumulation of oil in the engine room stood out again with more than 70 deficiencies noted. The most common deficiencies cited were the most common deficiencies cited, fuel leaks, excess oil in the bilge, and open buckets full of oily waste throughout the engine room.
The number of safety management system (SMS) deficiencies increased slightly from 2021 totals. were the most frequent.
Arrestable deficiencies related to lifesaving systems remained fairly consistent with the 2021 totals. Deficiencies related to rescue vessels, lifeboats, and operational readiness of lifesaving appliances were found most frequently.
MARPOL Annex I deficiencies increased from four in 2021 to 22 in 2022. Oil filtering equipment and oil discharge control systems accounted for almost half of the deficiencies.
In 2022, the Coast Guard issued 25% more deficiencies for non-compliance with its ballast water standards compared to the previous year’s numbers. Most of the deficiencies were issued to ships with inoperable systems, poor ballast water management plans and those that failed to report mandatory ballast water practices to the National Ballast Information Clearinghouse (NBIC) within the deadlines specified However, the Coast Guard is seeing a growing trend of ships reporting their systems inoperable prior to arrival.
