Australia has one of the world’s largest mixed-market economies and the largest continental landmass surrounded by water. Australia’s national livelihood depends on ensuring maritime trade to and from the country remains safe, efficient and compliant with all relevant international conventions. Australia relies on sea transport for the majority of its imports and exports by weight. Port State control (PSC) is an essential element in ensuring the safe operation of ships and protection of the marine environment. 

This report summarises the PSC activities of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), detailing the performance of commercial shipping companies, flag States and Classification Societies for the 2021 calendar year. 

AMSA is a statutory authority established under the Australian Maritime Safety Authority Act 1990 (the AMSA Act). 

AMSA’s principal functions are: 

• promoting maritime safety and protection of the marine environment 
• protecting life at sea by enforcing the safe operation of ships 
• preventing and combatting ship-sourced pollution in the marine environment 
• providing infrastructure to support safety of navigation in Australian waters 
• providing a national search and rescue service to the maritime and aviation sectors. 

To meet government and community expectations, AMSA is empowered to perform compliance and enforcement functions, regulating maritime trade in Australia through the implementation of rigorous flag State control (FSC) and PSC regimes. Professional and consistent FSC and PSC regimes are essential in ensuring ships comply with minimum standards of maritime safety, seafarer welfare and protection of Australia’s 60,000-kilometre coastline (including approximately 12,000 islands) from environmental damage. 

AMSA works in close cooperation with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and PSC partner nations across the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, sharing PSC information and actively participating in international policy development. These efforts are aimed at ensuring AMSA remains a transparent, trusted and consistent member of the international maritime community. 

As the flag State for Australian ships, AMSA is responsible for maintaining the operational safety standards of Australian-registered ships, wherever in the world they may be operating. 

Noting that information related to AMSA’s PSC activities is used by a diverse range of stakeholders on a regular basis, AMSA delivers current information to stakeholders via the AMSA website (amsa.gov.au). This information includes monthly ship detentions, details of ongoing PSC activities, current shipping trends and emerging issues. We also detail and promulgate government regulation and important information through marine orders and marine notices respectively. 

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Copyright

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority encourages the dissemination and exchange of information provided in this publication.

Except as otherwise specified, all material presented in this publication is provided under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

This excludes:

• the Commonwealth Coat of Arms
• this agency’s logo
• content supplied by third parties.

The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence is a standard form licence agreement that allows you to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt this publication provided that you attribute the work.

The details of the version 4.0 of the licence are available on the Creative Commons website, as is the full legal code for that licence.

Attribution

AMSA’s preference is that you attribute this publication (and any material sourced from it) using the following wording:

Source: Australian Maritime Safety Authority
Port State Control Australia 2021 Report

More information

For enquiries regarding copyright including requests to use material in a way that is beyond the scope of the terms of use that apply to it, please contact us through our website.

This report and AMSA detention data available online.

Introduction

Despite a full year of COVID-19 restrictions, AMSA inspectors undertook 2,820 PSC inspections during 2021, a 6.65 per cent drop in the inspection rate from 2020 (3,021 PSC inspections). This was due to the continuation of procedures put in place in 2020 to protect both inspectors and crew from possible transmission of COVID-19 infection during inspections. 

The PSC inspection results for 2021 saw a slight decrease in the detention rate of ships from 5.9 per cent in 2020 to 5.6 per cent (the peak in 2011 was 9.2 per cent). 

The average deficiency rate remained relatively constant, increasing slightly from 2.1 deficiencies per inspection in 2020 to 2.2 deficiencies per inspection in 2021.

As noted in previous reports, from 2013 onwards, ships and operators with a record of poor performance can be refused access from entering or using Australian ports through a direction issued under section 246 of the Navigation Act 2012¹. In 2021, AMSA refused access to four ships for periods ranging from six to 36 months. Three of these directions were issued in response to significant breaches of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC).

This report includes basic MLC PSC statistics for comparison between deficiency and detention categories, however AMSA publishes a standalone MLC annual report which is available on the AMSA website.

2021 summary of PSC activity

• During the calendar year there were: 
  • 26,400 ship arrivals by 6,170 foreign-flagged ships 
  • 2,820 PSC inspections 
  • 159 ship detentions. 
• Bulk carriers accounted for 56.1 per cent of ship arrivals and 60.7 per cent of PSC inspections. 
• PSC inspections were carried out at 53 Australian ports. 
• The average gross tonnage per visit was 54,015 GT compared to 54,318 GT in 2020. 
• The average age of ships calling Australian ports remained at 11 years, the same as 2020. 

10-year summary of inspection, detention and deficiency rates

Snapshot comparison to previous year 

Key points

• In 2021, the number of foreign-flagged ship arrivals increased by 221 (0.8 per cent) to 26,400. The number of arrivals by individual ships increased by 89 to 6,170 (1.4 per cent).
• The number of initial PSC inspections conducted during 2021 decreased by 201 (7.1 per cent) to 2820.
• The overall number of deficiencies deceased to 6,242 in 2021, compared to 6,387 in 2020.
• The average number of deficiencies per inspection increased slightly to 2.2 in 2021, compared to 2.1 in 2020.
• The number of detainable deficiencies decreased to 221 in 2021, compared to 270 in 2020. The largest contributor to this was ISM detainable deficiencies despite decreasing to 53 in 2021, compared to 76 in 2020.
• The number of detained ships decreased to 159 in 2021, compared to 178 in 2020. The detention per inspection rate decreased to 5.6 per cent in 2021, compared to 5.9 per cent in 2020.

The quality of ships coming to Australia continues to be of a high standard with the deficiency per inspection rate in 2021 remaining relatively low at 2.2 compared to 2.1 in 2020. Australia’s port State control regime continues to deliver the desired outcome of improved safety and exerts a positive influence on the quality of ships arriving in Australia.

Top five PSC inspections by flag State 2021

Top five PSC detention rates by flag State 2021

 Note: this table only covers flag States with 10 or more inspections 

Trends from 2021

As observed in past PSC annual reports, the most frequent cause of detention since 2010 relates to ineffective implementation of the safety management system (SMS) as required by the International Safety Management (ISM) Code. In 2021 the number of ISM detainable deficiencies decreased to 53 (occurring in 1.9% of PSC inspections) compared to 76 in 2020 (occurring in 2.5% of PSC inspections). The rate of structural and equipment deficiencies per inspection remained substantial at 1.1, the same as in 2020 and an increase from 0.9 in 2019. This continues to highlight that maintenance issues are not being addressed by the ship’s SMS as implemented onboard. This is likely to be related to a combination of factors including:

• Ongoing difficulties, as reported by operators, with conducting shore-based maintenance due to COVID-19 restrictions. Operators also reported difficulty in superintendents not being able to visit their ships due to COVID-19 restrictions, which affected their ability to conduct on-board SMS audits.
  • While AMSA acknowledges the effects of COVID-19 on shipping operations, AMSA considers that there has been sufficient time for operators to adapt their processes taking into account the effects of COVID-19.

Life-saving appliances (14.5 per cent), fire safety (13.6 per cent), and emergency systems (12.2 per cent) again appeared in the top five categories of detainable deficiencies. These three categories have been in the top five since 2014. 

Water/weather-tight deficiencies remained in the top five detainable deficiencies and increased slightly to 9.0 percent from 8.1 percent in 2020.

Top five detainable deficiencies 2019-2021

In 2021, AMSA continued its work with flag States and ship owners to increase awareness of factors that may impact PSC performance. AMSA is also working jointly with flag States to bring ships into compliance. This includes assisting flag States to access ships in Australian ports to conduct their inspections. More information on this process is available at the flag State administration webpage.

Summary of shipping industry activity 2021

In 2021, iron ore and coal were again the largest bulk exports by value from Australia followed by gas². 

The average gross tonnage of visiting ships decreased slightly in 2021 and the number of the port visits increased.

The main trends in 2021 were:

• Foreign-flagged ship port visits totalled 26,400 in 2021, an increase of 0.8% from 2020. The number of individual ships that made these port calls increased slightly to 6,170, an increase of 89 (1.4 per cent) compared to 6,081 in 2020.
• Bulk carrier port arrivals (14,814) increased by 3.2 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020 (14,355) and accounted for 56.1 per cent of foreign-flagged ship port arrivals.
• Arrivals increased by 19.6 per cent for vehicle carriers and 12.0 per cent for general cargo ships.  Arrivals decreased by 19.9 per cent for livestock carriers and 11.9 per cent for chemical tankers. 
• Arrivals of passenger ships dropped from 536 vessels in 2020 to 34 vessels in 2021, due to COVID-19. 
• Foreign-flagged shipping activity remains geographically disparate between Australian ports. Port Hedland remains the busiest Australian port for foreign ship visits, accounting for 12.3 per cent of arrivals in Australia. The top five ports of Port Hedland, Newcastle, Brisbane, Gladstone and Melbourne accounted for 43.6 per cent of arrivals in Australia.
• The size of visiting ships decreased slightly with the average gross tonnage reducing to 54,015 GT in 2021 compared to 54,318 GT in 2020. The average age of foreign ships arriving in Australian ports has increased slightly to 11.3 years in 2021.
• The number of ship visits across inspection priority groups P1 and P2 remained similar to 2020 while P3 visits decreased by 4 per cent and P4 visits increased by 4 per cent. 76 per cent of arrivals were in the lower priority groups of P3 and P4. This reflects the average age of ships arriving in Australia being lower than the world average.³

Table 1 - Port visits by priority group

* See page 39 for more details on priority groups.

Footnotes

¹ In exercising this power it is important to note that AMSA only employs this mechanism where routine PSC intervention has not been effective in achieving a lasting change in behaviour. It is only used where a systemic failure has been identified. The intent of the process is to improve performance rather than simply remove problem ships from Australian ports.

² Based on ABS trade data - 5368.0 International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia, Table 12b 

³ Based on Statista Research Department data 

Arrivals

AMSA conducted PSC inspections at 53 out of the 74 ports visited by foreign ships across Australia in 2021. As shown in the table below, arrivals were not distributed evenly across the ports visited, with 42 per cent of all arrivals occurring at the top five ports.

Ship arrivals in Australian ports for 2021

Port Hedland remained the busiest port for foreign-flagged ship arrivals, predominantly for the export of iron ore. In Newcastle and Gladstone, most arrivals were for the dry bulk export of coal. In Brisbane and Melbourne, most arrivals were engaged in the container trade.

Figure 1 – 2021 Port arrivals by ship type

Table 2 – Ship arrivals by ship type in 2021 compared to 2020

Inspections by ship type

In 2021, AMSA inspectors carried out 2,820 initial PSC inspections and 1,455 follow up inspections. AMSA inspectors are now able to conduct remote follow up inspections in accordance with Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding guidelines, 35 of the follow up inspections in 2021 were conducted remotely.

PSC inspections by ship type

Table 3 – Total ships inspected by ship type

Table 3 shows the number of inspections by ship type from 2017 to 2021.

Inspection by location

Of the 53 ports where inspections were conducted, the top five ports accounted for 43.6% per cent of the 2,820 initial PSC inspections undertaken as shown in Table 4.

Table 4 – PSC inspections 2021 top 15 locations 

As in previous years, in 2021 the greatest numbers of PSC initial inspections were undertaken in Western Australia, followed by Queensland and New South Wales. Inspections by state are shown in Table 5.

Table 5 – PSC inspections in 2021 by state/territory

Figure 2 – PSC inspections in 2021 by state/territory

Inspections by flag State

In 2021, Panama remained the flag State with the largest number of ships inspected by AMSA, with 624 Panamanian ships (22 per cent of the total) being subject to an initial PSC inspection.

The top five flag States remains unchanged since 2015 and inspections of ships from Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Hong Kong China and Singapore accounted for 72 per cent of all PSC inspections in 2021. The top 12 flags, as listed in Table 6, accounted for 2,505 inspections, or 89 per cent of all inspections.

A five-year breakdown of the number of ships inspected by flag State is provided in Table 7. The table does not show any significant change in the proportional inspection rates by flag States over the last five years.

Table 6 – PSC inspections by top 12 flag States in 2021

Note: figures in bold are not in the top 12 in those years.

Table 7 – Total ships inspected by flag State

Figure 3 represents inspections by flag State where 25 or more ships have been subjected to inspection during 2021. Flag States that have less than 25 inspections in a year are not considered to be statistically significant in this context.

Figure 3 – Distribution of PSC inspections by flag State

What is a deficiency?

The IMO defines a deficiency as ‘a condition found not to be in compliance with the requirements of the relevant convention’. Serious deficiencies contribute to the ship being substandard or unseaworthy. AMSA will issue a ship with a deficiency if it is determined, or reasonably suspected, that the condition of a ship, its equipment, or performance of its crew does not comply with the requirements of relevant international conventions.

There was a slight decrease in the number of deficiencies issued in 2021 (6,242) compared to 2020 (6,387), corresponding with the decrease in PSC inspections from 3,021 to 2,820. The deficiency rate increased slightly from 2.1 in 2020 to 2.2 in 2021.

As shown later in Table 10, the rate of deficiencies per inspection by category increased for structure/equipment, human factors and MLC. The deficiency rate for the categories of operational and ISM remained unchanged.

Deficiencies by category and ship type

For reporting purposes, deficiencies have been categorised into groups that identify key areas of non-compliance, being structural/equipment, operational, human factors, ISM and MLC. Table 8 identifies the number of deficiencies by category along with a comparison of the deficiency rates to those in 2020.

If the number of deficiencies is considered in isolation, as depicted in Table 8, the majority of deficiencies were issued to bulk carriers. However, this is not surprising given bulk carriers accounted for 56 per cent of ship arrivals and 61 per cent of all inspections. To assess the performance of ship types, it is necessary to compare the deficiencies per inspection for each category as provided in table 9.

Top five deficiencies per inspection by ship type 2021

Note: only ship types that had 10 or more inspections are included.

Table 8 – Deficiencies by category and ship type

Table 9 – Rate of deficiencies per inspection by category and ship type

Figures in bold are the top five in each category; Figures in italics are above average.

Table 10 – Change in deficiency rate per inspection by category only

What is a detention?

The IMO defines a detention as: ‘intervention action taken by the port State when the condition of the ship or its crew does not correspond substantially with the applicable conventions to ensure that the ship will not sail until it can proceed to sea without presenting a danger to the ship or persons on board, or without presenting an unreasonable threat of harm to the marine environment, whether or not such action will affect the scheduled departure of the ship’.

Detainable deficiencies by category

Table 11 shows the proportion of detainable deficiencies in different categories over a three-year period. As indicated in the table, the detainable deficiencies relating to the category of ISM remained the highest, though decreasing in share in 2021 (24 per cent of detainable deficiencies) as compared to 2020 (28.1 per cent of detainable deficiencies). Along with ISM, the categories of fire safety, emergency systems, lifesaving appliances and water/weather-tight conditions were the top five categories of detainable deficiencies. The proportion of MLC-related detentions remained the 7th  highest category. AMSA exercised flexibility and worked with industry in its dealings with MLC related deficiencies during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Flexibility and proactive work with industry, specifically around seafarer repatriation, prevented a significant surge in detainable deficiencies relating to MLC. 

The relatively high proportion of detainable deficiencies attributed in the ISM category suggests that safety management systems (SMS) are not properly and effectively implemented onboard. While the proportion may be a cause of concern, history provides context. In 2013, the number of ISM detainable deficiencies peaked at 120 (31.2 per cent share of detainable deficiencies). While there was an increase in ISM deficiencies between 2018-2020, the decrease in ISM deficiencies between 2020 (28.1%) and 2021(24%) is a positive result. 

Shipboard operations and maintenance were again the highest contributors to ISM detentions, followed by emergency preparedness. 

Table 11 – Detainable deficiencies by category

Detentions by ship type

In 2021 AMSA detained 159 ships with an average detention rate of 5.6 per cent compared to 178 ships detained in 2020 with an average detention rate of 5.9 per cent.

Table 12 – Top five detention rates by ship type in 2020 and 2021

Note: only ship types with 10 or more inspections are included.

The poorest performing ship type was heavy load carriers, followed by general cargo ships and container ships. General cargo ships have been in the top five poorest performing ship types for the past eight years while container ships have been in the top five for the past four years.

Bulk carriers represented the largest number of PSC detentions, as shown in Table 13. The bulk carrier detention rate was 6.1 per cent, and this detention rate remains higher than the average detention rate. This is a continuing and concerning trend as bulk carriers have exceeded the average detention rate for the last six years and are among the five worst performing ship types again in 2021, while also being the highest proportion of ship arrivals⁴.

Table 13 – Detentions by ship type

* As there are less than 10 inspections of this ship type these are not counted in the deficiency rate performance assessment.

The following is notable with regard to detention by ship type in 2021:

• 1,712 bulk carriers were inspected with 4,051 deficiencies issued resulting in 105 detentions. The detention rate for bulk carriers decreased to 6.1% from 6.6% in 2020.
• Heavy load carriers had the highest detention rate at 14.8%, a 6.5% increase compared to 8.3% in 2020. 
• General cargo vessels had the second highest detention rate at 7.7%, a 2.7% decrease compared to 2020.
• General cargo ships and heavy load carriers had the two highest detention rates of all ship types in 2021, 2020 and 2019.
• Oil tankers had a detention rate of 1.6%, well below the 2021 average of 5.6%.
• Offshore service vessels had zero detentions from 10 inspections.
• Tugboats had one detention from 18 inspections.

Detentions by flag State

Individual flag State performance can be determined by comparing the percentage share of inspections against the percentage share of detentions for each flag State (as shown in figure 4 below). Below average performance is indicated when a flag State’s percentage share of detentions is higher than its percentage share of inspections.

Top five detention rates by flag State 2021

Note: this table only covers ship types with 10 or more inspections.

Where a flag State is subject to a small number of inspections, a single detention can result in the flag State exceeding the average detention rate, as shown in Table 15. This may not be an accurate measure of performance. A more accurate assessment of individual flag State performance can be drawn by comparing detention rates over three years as shown in Table 14. This table shows that Antigua and Barbuda, Denmark, Greece, Liberia and Panama have exceeded the overall average detention rate over the three years from 2019 to 2021.

Table 14 – Flag States that exceeded the average in 2019, 2020 and 2021

Bold text = Exceeded the average detention rate in two years out of three

Italics = Exceeded the average detention rate in three years out of three

Table 15 – Inspections and detentions by flag State

Note: flag States above the average detention rate with more than 10 inspections are provided in bold.

Figure 4 – Share of detentions compared to share of inspections

Note: a detailed breakdown of this graph can be found in the Appendix.

Footnotes

⁴ All foreign flag ships are eligible for inspection six months from a previous inspection by AMSA or on their first arrival at an Australian port.

Flag State control (FSC)

AMSA inspectors conduct inspections on Australian-flagged ships subject to the Navigation Act 2012 using the same targeting arrangements applied to foreign-flagged ships.
AMSA conducted 95 initial FSC inspections on 76 Australian-flagged ships during 2021, resulting in 254 deficiencies being recorded, seven of which were detainable deficiencies resulting in the detention of three ships. The average number of deficiencies per inspection increased from 2.4 in 2020 to 2.7 in 2021.
The number of FSC detentions increased to three in 2021, from one in 2020. This equated to a detention rate of 3.2 per cent, which is well below the average of 5.6 per cent recorded for foreign-flagged ships during the same period.

Port State control – Australian-flagged ships (overseas)

Australian-flagged ships calling at foreign ports were subject to a total of one PSC inspection by foreign maritime authorities, resulting in four deficiencies and one detention. AMSA is working with the operator of this ship to address their compliance with all requirements applicable to ships on an international voyage.

Refusal of a ship’s access and condition of entry

Australia is a signatory to various International Maritime Organization (IMO) and International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions which aim to ensure ships are safe.
Ships that are not operated and managed to meet applicable minimum standards and relevant Australian laws pose an increased risk to seafarers, ships and the environment. The Navigation Act 2012 gives AMSA the power to direct that a ship be refused access to Australian ports. AMSA exercises that power on occasions where a ship is repeatedly detained, has a poor PSC record, or there are concerns about the performance of the ship operator. We promulgate our policy on refusing access on our website.  

AMSA can issue a ship with a direction not to enter or use an Australian port (or ports) for a set period, as deemed necessary. When considering ship performance, AMSA also looks at the performance of the entire company responsible for the operations of the ship. Where the company’s performance is also deemed unacceptable, the periods for which the ship is not permitted to enter an Australian port may be extended. A direction resulting from a detention will generally take effect as soon as the ship leaves the Australian port or anchorage following rectification of the detainable deficiency.

We publish a list of ships that are refused access to Australian ports on our website. 

Table 20 lists the ships issued with directions not to enter or use an Australian port in 2021.

Table 20 – Ships issued with directions⁶

High performing operators

When considering ship performance, AMSA also considers the performance of operators in respect of the detention and deficiency rates of the ships they operate. In this report AMSA has identified operators that are considered to be high performing. This is assessed on the following basis:

• At least 10 inspections during the year (less than 10 is not statistically significant)
• No detentions during the year
• A deficiency rate at no more than 70% of the average deficiency rate for the year.

Applying these criteria to data for 2021, AMSA identified 25 high performing operators as listed in Table 21 below.

Table 21 – High performing operators 2021

Footnotes

⁶  The full list of ships which have been refused access to Australian ports, or issued letters of warning, can be found on the AMSA website here.

Inspections, deficiencies and detentions by flag State

In 2021, detentions occurred in 5.6 per cent of all inspections, and the rate of deficiencies per inspection was 2.2.