>Press Releases Home > Publications and press releases > Press Releases Port State Control inspections work well in HK Port State Control (PSC) inspection is an important tool for the Marine Department to ensure the safety quality of ships entering and leaving the harbour everyday as well as an effective means to protect the environment of Hong Kong waters, the Director of Marine, Mr Tsui Shung-yiu said. "When we intensified our PSC inspections in 1995, the detention rate was 67 per cent. It has been dropped to less than 30 per cent in 1998, which indicates that the inspections work well in Hong Kong in weeding out sub-standard ships," Mr Tsui said. "Safer seas, cleaner oceans and fairer trading are our prime objectives in carrying our PSC inspections and we intend to inspect 15 per cent of the total number of ships entering Hong Kong by year 2000," he added. Mr Tsui's remark was made during the opening address of the Fifth Seminar for PSC Officers in the Asia-Pacific Region held in Hong Kong earlier this week. More than 50 representatives from 13 countries or territories in the region as well as classification societies and shipping agents attended the seminar. The Director of Marine said recent PSC statistics revealed that Hong Kong did not get more substandard ships coming to its waters as a result of the Asian economic crisis. He assured participants that Hong Kong would remain fully committed to maritime safety at all time and would never take a softer stance under the prevailing adverse economic climate. Mr Tsui said with the implementation of the International Safety Management code for various ship types since July this year and a Concentrated Inspection Campaign had been carried out in this regard, together with the continuous attempts by shipping liners to cut crewing costs during economic downturn, ship crews and the captains in particular had been put under enormous pressure. He called on the PSC officers to appreciate ship crews' pressures during their inspections. The three-day seminar, which is held annually and hosted in turn by member states of the Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), has been successful in enhancing exchange of views and experiences among PSC officers from different countries. While thanking all participants for their active involvement, the Secretary of the Tokyo MOU secretariat Mr Yoshio Sasamura also called on them to share their knowledge gained from the seminar with their colleagues. Friday, December 4, 1998
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