Enforcement of law by the Port State Control (PSC)

Since the International Maritime Organization (IMO) introduced the Port State Control (PSC) programme in 1982, it has been playing a vital role in the enforcement of safety law at sea worldwide. This paper addresses the effectiveness of PSC and the effectiveness of the methods for selecting ships to be inspected adopted by regional PSC. Data on ship total loss (from 1973-2003) and on the PSC records (from 1994-2005) have been collected. The study reveals that the enforcement of PSC is effective in improving the safety level of maritime transport. The methods adopted by regional PSC are compared on their effectiveness, efficiency and stability in identifying substandard ships. Suggestions are made on the improvement of the enforcement of PSC.