Port State Control A/W - UK P&I Members Area

PORT STATE CONTROL AND THE USAU S AHAWAIIPUERTO RICAVIRGIN IS. (US)NORTHERN MARIANAISLANDSGUAMAMERICANSAMOAThe information contained in this section is taken from theUS Coast Guard’s web site and provides an overview of PortState Control within the territorial waters of the United Statesof America.The USA is not a participating member of any of theregional agreements currently in force, but it does take a proactiveunilateral stance on the subject of the monitoring andenforcement of international conventions and regards it as anincreasingly important component in the policing andenforcement of maritime regulations.OUTLINE STRUCTURESince the Coast Guard’s Port State Control programme islargely non-regulatory, it is not generally reflected in the Codeof Federal Regulations. Instead, the programme is set out inDEVELOPMENTUntil 1994, boardings to ensure compliance with USregulations for tank ships, passenger ships, navigation safetyand pollution prevention constitued the US Coast Guard’s maininvolvement with non-US ships and only in the most extremeor obvious cases did the Coast Guard intervene under theinternational Conventions (eg., SOLAS, MARPOL, Loadline) todetain non-US ships.However, in 1994, the US Congress recognised that thereexisted a number of substandard ships amongst the 8000non-USA ships arriving in the USA every year and directed theCoast Guard to develop a programme to eliminate them fromthe nation’s waters, and to submit annual reports on the statusof this mandated programme which has come to be called thePort State Control Programme.the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Manual (“the MSM”) whichcontains seven chapters devoted to different aspects of thePort State Control programme. These chapters deal with● the general concept of foreign ship examinationsBASIC PRINCIPLESThe USA Government maintains that the prime responsibility forcompliance with the requirements laid down in the international●●procedures applicable to different types of shipsthe procedures utilised to target foreign ships for boarding,for exercising control over foreign ships, and procedures toensure accountability.maritime conventions lies with the shipowner/operator. It alsocontinues to maintain that the responsibility for ensuring suchcompliance lies with the flag states, but the language contained inthe various statements, papers etc issued by the USCG indicatesthat while Port State Control is seen as a safety net, it is to be28