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The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MoU) has revealed that preliminary results from its Concentrated Inspection Campaign on Tanker Damage Stability, carried out between 1st September 2010 to 30th November 2010, show that a total of 173 tankers, or 16.2 percent, (77 oil tankers, 84 chemical tankers and 12 gas tankers) could not demonstrate that they were normally loaded in accordance with the Stability Information Booklet (SIB).

Over recent years some concern had been shown by several Paris MoU members that in some cases tankers were not being loaded in compliance with IMO damage stability requirements, which means that in the case of a collision or grounding the ship may not survive, resulting in possible pollution or even loss of life.

The Paris MoU Committee decided to instigate a Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on tanker damage stability in the region from 1 September 2010 to 30 November 2010 to assess the situation regarding damage stability.

The CIC questionnaire was completed on a total of 1,065 tankers (419 oil, 538 chemical and 108 gas tankers). A total of 94 (8.8 percent) inspections resulted in deficiencies directly related to the CIC. A total of 4 tankers were detained as a direct result of the CIC for not complying with damage stability requirements. (2 oil tankers and 2 chemical tankers).

About Paris MoU

Paris MoU is an organization that consists of 27 participating maritime administrations and covers the waters of the European coastal States and the North Atlantic basin from North America to Europe.

Annually more than 24,000 inspections take place on board foreign ships in Paris MoU ports.

Port State Control is a check on visiting foreign ships to see that they comply with international rules on safety, pollution prevention and seafarers living and working conditions.

It is a means of enforcing compliance where the owner and flag State have failed in their responsibility to implement or ensure compliance. The port State can require defects to be put right, and detain the ship for this purpose if necessary. It is therefore also a port State's defence against visiting substandard shipping.