This year’s CIC will be carried out on the fire safety

Every year, Port State Control regimes determine a specific focus area during regular inspections. This year’s Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC), running from 1 September to 30 November, will be carried out on the topic of fire safety.

DNV has published an article advising ship owners and managers on how to prepare for a port state control inspection.

CIC – fire safety

This year, the Paris and Tokyo MoUs agreed to run a CIC on the topic of fire safety. The majority of PSC MoUs have confirmed their participation in this year’s CIC.

The CIC will be carried out between 1 September and 30 November and will be covered by an additional questionnaire during routine port state inspections.

The additional questionnaire, highlighting the fire safety focus areas this time around, is usually published in early August.

Traditionally, deficiencies in the fire safety section are among the most common of all detainable deficiencies, which is underlined by the fact that a third of DNV’s Top 18 detainable deficiencies (refer to News on Top 18) relate to the topic of fire safety:

Fire dampers
Fire doors/openings in fire-resisting divisions
Fire detection systems
Fixed fire-extinguishing installations
Means of control (opening, pumps) in machinery spaces
Evaluation of crew performance (fire drills)

The CIC is, of course, not limited to DNV’s Top 18 items.

Below, you will find a graph showing the ratio between detainable and non-detainable deficiencies regarding fire safety during port state control inspections, from the Paris MoU:

Actions on the CIC 2023 by the authorities

In response to this year’s CIC, the flag states of Panama and Turkey have already implemented actions to prepare their registered vessels.

Since March 2023, flag state inspectors from the Panama Maritime Authority have been using an additional CIC checklist to determine the level of compliance regarding fire safety and ISM to prepare for this year’s campaign.

To prepare for the upcoming CIC, the Turkish flag has advised their Authorized Organizations to assist in their efforts. Between 15 June and 30 November 2023, a CIC checklist is to be completed during every survey carried out by Authorized Organizations onboard Turkish-flagged vessels.

According to DNV's information, the Turkish port state control has already started checking vessels according to the CIC checklist since 15 June.

Recommendations

Owners/managers should make sure their crews are informed about the planned CIC and which items are expected to be important.

Special attention should be paid to these items during maintenance, to ensure a proper condition of the vessel.

As deficiencies in fire safety can often be traced to shortcomings in the implementation of the Safety Management System (SMS), the efficient use of the SMS should be emphasized.

Paris MoU Annual Report: 2022 Paris MoU Annual Report “Port State Control; 40 years of harmonisation" | Paris MoU

LINK TO THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE

MORE DNV'S TECHNICAL AND REGULATORY NEWS IS AVAILABLE HERE