EMSA Launches New Ship Inspection System

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

20 December 2007

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) earlier this month unveiled the launch of 'RuleCheck', which is a system to enable ship inspections in ports to be undertaken more efficiently and effectively.

The new system has been introduced, according to EMSA, because over time, the international rules governing port state control (PSC) related ship inspections have become more and more complex.

RuleCheck aims to make the inspector’s job easier, by clearly showing the different rules that apply to a selected ship at the time of an inspection, and was developed under a contract with the Korean Register of Shipping (KRS).

“Port state control is right at the heart of ensuring that ships operate safely, and RuleCheck will make a big difference to ship inspections in EU ports,” explained EMSA Executive Director Willem de Ruiter.

He continued:

“For years, port state control officers have had an increasingly difficult time trying to ensure that the many different rules are applied properly in carrying out their work. The new system will simplify their decision making process, thus enabling ship inspections to be carried out in a more efficient and effective way in the future. It should also be remembered that this is only the first version of RuleCheck, so there will be further improvements to come.”

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