Entry & progression
The port state control inspector finds what you deferred. Not what you did not know about - what you knew about, wrote down, and then let run past its date.
Statutory work is done under the international conventions, on behalf of the flag administration - which usually delegates the surveys to the class society, which is why the two blur in practice and must not blur in your head. Class can suspend your class. Flag can invalidate your certificates. Either way the vessel stops trading.
The survey cycle
Class survey regimes typically run on a five-year cycle: annual surveys, an intermediate, and a special survey at the end, with separate cycles for items such as the tailshaft and any boiler. Many societies also permit a continuous machinery survey, in which machinery items are opened and examined on a rolling basis so that the whole plant is covered across the cycle rather than all at once.
CAUTION — Your class society's rules are the authority Survey intervals, harmonisation windows and what may be credited by the chief engineer rather than by an attending surveyor vary by society and by vessel. Read your own society's rules and your own vessel's survey status report. This lesson is orientation, not authority.
Conditions of class
A condition of class - some societies say recommendation - is a defect the surveyor has accepted for now, with a date by which it must be rectified. It has two properties worth memorising. It does not go away. And when it expires unactioned, class is liable to be suspended, which typically invalidates the statutory certificates that ride on it and can put the insurance in question. Every condition of class belongs in the handover, with its date in red.
The port state control inspection
The inspector is not trying to read your mind. He is working through a list of things that are commonly wrong, and in the engine room they are commonly wrong in the same ways:
- Oily water separator - the 15 ppm alarm and the automatic stopping device, tested and working. And the oil record book: complete, in order, signed, and matching reality.
- Emergency generator - starts, and takes its load. Not merely spins.
- Emergency fire pump - primes and delivers pressure at the furthest hydrant.
- Quick-closing valves and remote stops - actually operate. They seize because nobody exercises them.
- Fire dampers and ventilation flaps - free, not painted shut.
- Steering gear - tests done and recorded, emergency steering exercised, the drill in the log.
- Planned maintenance - overdue jobs are evidence, and they are the first thing an auditor asks to see.
A deficiency is a finding you must correct. A detainable deficiency stops the vessel until it is fixed, and on a yacht that means guests ashore, the charter gone, and a conversation with the owner that nobody enjoys. The way to avoid it is boring and reliable: exercise the systems, record the tests, close the jobs, and never let a deferred item slide past its date because the season was busy.
CAUTION — Port State control in Australia The inspection regime, its priorities, and your reporting obligations for detentions and deficiencies in Australian ports are matters to confirm with AMSA. This lesson teaches the engineering. It does not state Australian procedure.