Vessels flying a foreign flag have to comply with international rules and regulations such as SOLAS, MARPOL, ILO, et cetera. Port State Control inspections are carried out based on the National Port State law (Wet Havenstaatcontrole), which is based on the European Directive 2009/16/EC.
Port State Control inspections are harmonised in Europe through the Paris Memorandum of Understanding.
The EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency) gives technical support on the monitoring of Port State Control at EU level. It contains:
- reviewing the port state inspection systems provided by the individual EU-members
- carrying out extended analysis of the worldwide statistics of vessels, that sail on EU-harbours
- carrying out analysis of the data of individual ship inspections
Purpose of Port State Control
The purpose of Port State Control is to ban substandard vessels (vessels that are not in compliance with the international standards).
Port State Control resorts in the Netherlands at the Netherlands Shipping Inspectorate (Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport) in Rotterdam.
The Netherlands Shipping Inspectorate can be reached at:
- Telephone:+31 (0)70 456 46 50 (Port State Control)
- Telefax:+31 (0)10 202 35 20
- E-mail:psc@ILenT.nl
Towing operations at sea
On this website information is available about the demands on towing operations at sea.