The number of Vietnamese ships detained abroad has decreased sharply.

• DNUM_BCZABZCABF 14:51

With only 26 ships detained out of a total of 732 Port State inspections in 2014, Vietnam's maritime fleet has left the "black list" and entered the "white list" of Tokyo-MOU.

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Deputy Director of the Vietnam Register, Ministry of Transport Vu Hong Hai acknowledged that the project to remove the Vietnamese fleet from the Tokyo-MOU (Organization of States participating in the Memorandum of Understanding on Ship Inspections of Asia-Pacific Port Authorities) blacklist by the end of 2014 was quite successful. However, to make this result sustainable, further improvements are needed in the following years.

According to the report of the Vietnam Register, in 2014, 26 Vietnamese ships were detained out of a total of 732 ships inspected by the Port State Control (PSC), accounting for 3.55%, down 6.13% compared to 2013.

Specifically, 20/26 Vietnamese ships were detained in 2014 by Chinese port authorities in neighboring provinces such as Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan. In addition, Vietnam had 1 ship detained in the Western Europe-North Atlantic region (Paris-MOU) and 5 ships detained in the Indian Ocean region (Indian Ocean-MOU).

Compared to 2013, Vietnam has reduced the number of ships detained by PSC abroad by 21. In September and December, no Vietnamese ships were detained. Compared to other countries in the region, Vietnam has a lower rate of detained ships.

In order to reduce the number of ships detained by PSC, the Vietnam Register has coordinated with relevant parties over the past year to develop new criteria for shipowners and ships at high risk of detention in accordance with the new ship inspection system of Tokyo-MOU. The agency also announced the list of detained ships, supporting shipowners and captains to detect and correct deficiencies in maritime safety and security.

The Register also improves the quality of technical supervision of ships by strengthening inspection and supervision in all stages from ship design appraisal; certification of machinery, materials, and shipbuilding equipment; supervision of ships during construction; assessment and certification of labor safety and security management for ships operating on international routes; strengthening inspection, supervision, post-inspection, and cross-inspection to determine the cause and responsibility of organizations and individuals related to the detention of ships in order to take necessary measures and corrective and preventive actions.

In addition, the Department of Registration assigns responsibility and strictly disciplines a number of inspectors and related inspection units that have committed violations leading to the detention of ships; and clarifies the responsibilities of maritime port authorities whose ships departing from their management areas to foreign countries are detained.

A representative of the Vietnam Maritime Administration said that one of the important solutions is to direct the Maritime Port Authorities to strictly inspect Vietnamese ships operating on international routes. All ships, especially those that have been detained through PSC inspection, must be inspected before leaving Vietnamese ports for foreign countries. Vietnamese ships are not allowed to leave ports until all defects have been corrected.

According to Chinhphu.vn