Measures to improve compliance and minimize PSC detention risk issued by Liberia

Liberia Maritime Authority has issued a marine notice regarding measures to improve compliance and minimize the risk of port state control detentions.

The notice was published on 09 March 2023 and it applies to owners, operators, masters, ship officers, and recognized organizations (ROs) of Liberian-flagged vessels.

This Notice establishes measures to improve the reporting of deficiencies in accordance with reference (a) (SOLAS, Chapter I, Regulation 11) to monitor compliance and minimize the risk of Port State Control (PSC) detentions of Liberian-flagged vessels.

From March 31st, 2023 the following requirements will apply to all Liberian Flagged vessels:

• Ref (a) requires reporting of accidents and defects which affect the safety of the ship or the efficiency, and completeness of its life-saving appliances amongst other equipment. Ref (a) also requires providing reports which include deficiencies noted during PSC Inspections. The Administration requires all Masters, Owners, Operators, DPAs, and ROs to send all PSC inspection reports to the Fleet Performance Department, at PSCfollowup@liscr.com as soon as practicable, but no later than 48 hours after the PSC inspection.
• The  Administration requires that for any vessel which is detained by Port State Control (PSC), the Masters, Vessel-Owners, Operators, technical managers, and/or DPAs send an immediate notification to the Administration of the PSC Detention and a copy of the PSC inspection report. It should be sent to the Administration’s Duty Officer at DutyOfficer@liscr.com and the Fleet Performance Department at Prevention@liscr.com.
• The Administration requires that any vessel that is issued a “code 17” prior to departure deficiency by PSC shall submit objective evidence of the rectification of these deficiencies to the Administration prior to the vessel’s departure from the port. Objective evidence of rectification may include pictures, video, documentation, Class Report, etc. This does not take the place of or supersede the requirement to submit corrective action reports as required by the following section of this notice. The requirements of this section and the next section may be combined. The objective evidence of rectification should be sent to the Administration’s Duty Officer at DutyOfficer@liscr.com and the Fleet Performance Department at Prevention@liscr.com. A copy of the PSC report should be included with the submission.
• The Administration also requires the submission of a Corrective Action Report, if deficiencies are discovered during a PSC Inspection. The Corrective Action Reports shall be submitted as soon as possible and no later than 30 days from the date of the PSC Inspection. Vessel operators are requested to send it to PSCfollowup@liscr.com. Vessel Operators may submit Corrective Actions Reports using the following means:
  (1)  Form  RLM-031  Rev  04/2020.
  (2)  The format used by the company safety management system; describes the deficiencies, corrective actions, root cause analysis, and preventive actions taken.

The above-listed requirements shall be incorporated into the company’s Safety Management System (SMS) for all vessels, at the earliest opportunity, and no later than September 30th,2023.

Liberian Nautical Inspectors and Auditors will begin verifying compliance with
requirements listed during Annual Safety Inspections (ASI) as of March 31st, 2023.

For more information, please see the document below (available only to subscribers):

RELEVANT DOCUMENTS:

Measures to Improve Compliance and Minimize Risk of Port State Control Detentions