Port state control at European Union under pandemic outbreak

Introduction: Port State Control (PSC) is a vital element of sustainable maritime transportation. Inspections of PSC regimes have been ensuring the continuity of the global supply chain as they enforce shipping to implement the maritime regulations to be safe, secure, and environmentally friendly. Objective: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the number of onboard ship inspections has decreased inherently for protecting PSC officersand seafarers, while PSC regimes have developed a policy to focus on a high-risk ship based on historical inspection records. In this context, planning for a “new normal” in maritime transportation, it is essential to realize the change in ship inspection numbers and the trend of deficiency - detention factors for the maritime sector to provide current standards. This study aims to present the difference in ship inspection trends between 2017-2020 by focusing on COVID-19 pandemic outbreak data. Methods: Comparative analysis with Paris MOU ship inspection & detention figures and entropy-based Grey Relevance Analysis has been used as a methodology to reveal the change in inspection trends after COVID-19. Results: After the pandemic outbreak caused by COVID-19, the number of ship inspections under Paris MOU fell dramatically, however, inspection and detention rate remained the same, also entropy-based Grey Relevance Analysis indicates that detention remarks have also changed compared to last year deficiencies. Detention caused by nautical publication and cleanliness in the engine room has an increasing trend on detentions. Conclusion: Inspection statistics indicate consistent figures even during the pandemic outbreak, which indicates the current sample group for Paris MOU inspection is healthy. At the same time, entropy-based Grey Relevance Analysis presents a broader insight that the inspection trend on detention deficiencies has varied. Familiarization with the changing trends in inspections will cause fewer detentions of the ships.