Arrivals

AMSA conducted PSC inspections in 46 ports across Australia. As shown in the table below, arrivals were not distributed evenly across the 70 ports visited by foreign ships in 2020, with 42 per cent of all arrivals occurring at the top five ports.

Ship arrivals in Australian ports for 2020

Port Hedland remained the busiest port for foreign-flagged ship arrivals, predominantly for the export of iron ore. In Newcastle and Gladstone, the majority of arrivals were also for the dry bulk export market, mainly coal. In Brisbane and Melbourne, the majority of arrivals were engaged in the container trade.

Total of 26,179 ship arrivals at Australian ports during 2020.

Arrivals – top five ports

1. Port Hedland 3168 (12.1%)

2. Newcastle 2223 (8.5%)

3. Brisbane 2160 (8.3%)

4. Gladstone 1822 (7.0%)

5. Melbourne 1731 (6.6%)

Port Hedland remained the busiest port for foreign-flagged ship arrivals, predominantly for the export of iron ore. In Newcastle and Gladstone, the majority of arrivals were also for the dry bulk export market, mainly coal. In Brisbane and Melbourne, the majority of arrivals were engaged in the container trade.

2020 Port arrivals by ship type

ship arrivals in Australian ports for 2020

Table 2—Ship arrivals by ship type in 2020 compared to 2019

Ship type

2019

2020

Change

Bulk carrier

14,418

14,337

-0.6%

Chemical tanker

1460

1550

6.2%

Container ship

4359

3694

-15.3%

Gas carrier

1427

1472

3.2%

General cargo/ multi-purpose

1047

915

-12.6%

Livestock carrier

395

351

-11.1%

Oil tanker

1105

752

-31.9%

Vehicle carrier

1529

1273

-16.7%

Other

2844

1835

-35.5%

Totals arrivals

28,584

26,179

-8.4%

Inspections by ship type

In 2020, AMSA Inspectors carried out 3021 initial PSC inspections and 1501 PSC follow up inspections. AMSA Inspectors are now able to conduct remote follow up inspections in accordance with Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding guidelines, 35 of the follow up inspections in 2020 were conducted remotely.

PSC inspections by ship type

AMSA conducted 3021 PSC inspections in 2020.

2020 top five ship types

1. Bulk carrier – 1840 (60.9%)

2. Container ships – 263 (8.7%)

3. Chemical tanker – 235 (7.8%)

4. General Cargo/multi-purpose – 135 (4.5%)

5. Oil tankers 126 – (4.2%)

Table 3—Total ships inspected by ship type

Ship type

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Bulk carrier

2132

1732

1585

1826

1,840

Chemical tanker

208

181

179

201

235

Combination carrier

0

1

0

0

1

Commercial yacht

0

1

0

0

0

Container ship

342

297

311

327

263

Gas carrier

74

52

53

77

55

General cargo/ multi-purpose ship

163

184

154

129

135

Heavy load carrier

25

19

30

40

36

High speed passenger craft

0

0

0

0

0

Livestock carrier

57

49

52

56

29

MODU or FPSO

0

2

0

0

0

NLS tanker

28

27

25

30

31

Offshore service vessel

10

17

19

12

15

Oil tanker

227

194

155

168

126

Oil tanker/ chemical tanker

0

0

0

0

2

Other types of ship

21

29

14

21

18

Passenger ship

51

47

55

56

23

Refrigerated cargo ship

4

2

3

2

1

Ro-ro cargo ship

6

6

2

9

2

Ro-ro passenger ship

0

0

1

0

1

Special purpose ship

14

8

7

10

8

Tugboat

40

28

30

24

26

Vehicle carrier

197

180

181

172

122

Wood-chip carrier

77

72

66

62

52

Totals

3675

3128

2922

3222

3021

Inspection by location

Of the 46 ports where inspections were conducted, the top five ports accounted for 51% per cent of the 3021 initial PSC inspections undertaken as shown in Table 4.

Table 4—PSC inspections 2020 top 15 locations

 

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

% of total in 2020

Port Hedland

247

311

441

694

497

16.5%

Fremantle

448

416

410

382

312

10.3%

Sydney

282

205

190

282

249

8.2%

Brisbane

304

278

238

249

248

8.2%

Newcastle

401

316

212

207

235

7.8%

Gladstone

251

206

181

147

214

7.1%

Dampier

281

187

156

159

175

5.8%

Hay Point

255

180

155

184

157

5.2%

Port Adelaide

90

88

99

56

109

3.6%

Melbourne

151

156

156

151

104

3.4%

Townsville

115

100

81

75

75

2.5%

Geraldton

127

94

83

100

74

2.4%

Port Kembla

162

83

49

43

62

2.1%

Bunbury

44

32

33

31

58

1.9%

Darwin

94

96

110

137

58

1.9%

As in previous years, in 2020 the greatest numbers of PSC initial inspections were undertaken in Western Australia followed by Queensland then New South Wales. Inspections by state are shown in Table 5 and Figure 2.

Table 5—PSC inspections in 2020 by state/territory

State/territory

PSC inspections

Western Australia

1192

Queensland

840

New South Wales

547

Victoria

153

South Australia

126

Tasmania

104

Northern Territory

59

Total

3021

PSC inspections in 2020 by state/territory

Port state control inspections by state and territory

Inspections by flag State

In 2020, Panama remained the flag State with the largest number of ships inspected by AMSA, with 703 Panamanian ships (23 per cent of the total) being subject to an initial PSC inspection.

The top five flag States remains unchanged since 2015 and inspections of ships from Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Hong Kong China and Singapore accounted for 70 per cent of all PSC inspections in 2020. The top 12 flags, as listed in Table 6, accounted for 2684 inspections, or 89 per cent of all inspections.

A five-year breakdown of the number of ships inspected by flag State is provided in Table 7. The table does not show any significant change in the proportional inspection rates by flag States over the last five years.

Table 6—PSC inspections by top 12 flag States in 2020

Top 12 flag States

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

PANAMA

942

763

622

678

703

LIBERIA

360

304

340

401

399

MARSHALL ISLANDS

358

337

377

405

397

HONG KONG, CHINA

426

311

306

399

330

SINGAPORE

368

326

292

289

295

MALTA

196

210

186

191

184

BAHAMAS

138

121

97

119

114

JAPAN

71

60

54

58

66

NORWAY

49

55

53

70

55

CYPRUS

87

73

63

66

54

GREECE

81

49

60

63

47

ISLE OF MAN

54

52

54

54

40

Note: figures in bold are not in the top 12 in those years.

Table 7—Total ships inspected by flag State

Flag State

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

ANTIGUA & BARBUDA

51

44

31

30

37

BAHAMAS

138

121

98

119

114

BARBADOS

1

3

5

1

2

BELGIUM

6

3

8

3

12

BELIZE

0

0

1

0

0

BERMUDA

29

15

11

17

7

BRAZIL

1

0

0

0

0

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

0

1

1

0

0

CAYMAN ISLANDS

23

34

32

29

29

CHINA

70

53

46

63

36

COMOROS

1

1

0

0

0

COOK ISLANDS

7

7

5

5

8

CROATIA

5

5

3

0

1

CYPRUS

87

73

63

66

54

DENMARK

22

16

12

24

12

DOMINICA

0

0

0

1

0

EGYPT

0

0

1

0

0

ESTONIA

0

0

0

0

0

FAROE ISLANDS

1

0

0

0

0

FIJI

2

4

2

0

0

FRANCE

13

8

3

8

3

GERMANY

7

9

6

4

1

GIBRALTAR

7

4

7

2

2

GREECE

81

49

60

63

47

HONG KONG, CHINA

426

312

306

399

330

INDIA

7

9

11

6

5

INDONESIA

5

0

2

0

0

IRAN (ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF)

0

1

0

0

0

IRELAND

1

0

0

0

0

ISLE OF MAN

54

52

54

54

40

ITALY

20

16

21

24

20

JAMAICA

1

0

0

2

0

JAPAN

72

60

55

58

66

KOREA (THE REPUBLIC OF)

49

48

36

37

27

KUWAIT

3

4

4

4

3

LIBERIA

360

304

340

401

399

LIBYA

1

0

1

2

0

LUXEMBOURG

11

7

5

16

5

MALAYSIA

8

8

10

12

8

MALTA

196

210

186

191

184

MARSHALL ISLANDS

358

337

377

405

397

NETHERLANDS

17

20

18

22

23

NEW ZEALAND

3

3

3

2

1

NORWAY

49

55

52

70

55

PAKISTAN

1

1

0

0

1

PANAMA

941

761

621

678

703

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

9

7

4

0

1

PHILIPPINES

27

19

23

11

9

PORTUGAL

25

31

43

42

35

QATAR

0

0

2

0

5

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

0

0

0

1

0

SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

1

4

2

0

0

SAUDI ARABIA

2

1

0

2

0

SINGAPORE

368

328

292

289

295

SOLOMON ISLANDS

3

0

0

0

0

SOUTH AFRICA

1

0

0

0

0

SPAIN

1

0

1

2

1

SRI LANKA

1

1

0

1

0

SWEDEN

14

10

7

7

2

SWITZERLAND

12

7

5

1

1

TAIWAN (PROVINCE OF CHINA)

18

7

4

9

10

TANZANIA (UNITED REPUBLIC OF)

0

1

0

0

0

THAILAND

9

9

9

6

6

TURKEY

8

3

1

3

1

TUVALU

0

1

0

1

2

UNITED KINGDOM

31

28

23

22

18

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

2

5

2

2

0

VANUATU

7

7

5

4

3

VIETNAM

1

1

2

0

0

Total:

3675

3128

2922

3222

3021

The list below represents inspections by flag State where 25 or more ships have been subjected to inspection during 2020. Flag States that have less than 25 inspections in a year are not considered to be statistically significant in this context.

Distribution of PSC inspections by flag State

distribution of PSC inspections by flag State