A Practical Guide to Shipboard Inspections

All ship types across the industry are subject to various kinds of inspections—from flag state checking that ships comply with international and national standards to third-party inspections requested by charterers. Preparing for these inspections helps shipping companies ensure their ships navigate the seas safely on schedule and in a manner that protects the marine environment.

A Practical Guide to Shipboard Inspections is a comprehensive guide to implementing a systematic approach to inspections for all ship types. From the moment an inspector boards through to the filing of the inspection report, this first edition walks readers through each stage of more than seven different kinds of inspections, including:

• Port state
• Flag state
• Class
• Port health
• Masters
• ITF inspections and more.

Developed using extensive interviews with current inspectors, this guide helps officers, crews and superintendents better understand how to:

• Work effectively with inspectors and surveyors
• Prepare for each type of inspection
• Identify what aspects of their ship needs further improvement before an inspection
• Dispute deficiencies in an appeals process and
• Deal with corruption during an inspection.

 A Practical Guide to Shipboard Inspections not only collects the most common deficiencies across port state control regimes in one place but also suggests what specific actions ships should take to help reduce these deficiencies. A chapter on masters’ inspections details the weekly checks to help spot potential findings and close them out before other inspections. Firsthand tips from inspectors and practical checklists for port state control, flag state, class and masters’ inspections are also provided to help ensure each and every on board inspection goes smoothly.