Published on Australian Maritime Safety Authority (https://www.amsa.gov.au)

Analysis of 2020 inspection results

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 type20192020Change
Bulk carrier14,41814,337-0.6%
Chemical tanker146015506.2%
Container ship43593694-15.3%
Gas carrier142714723.2%
General cargo/ multi-purpose1047915-12.6%
Livestock carrier395351-11.1%
Oil tanker1105752-31.9%
Vehicle carrier15291273-16.7%
Other28441835-35.5%
Totals arrivals28,58426,179-8.4%

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 type20162017201820192020
Bulk carrier21321732158518261,840
Chemical tanker208181179201235
Combination carrier01001
Commercial yacht01000
Container ship342297311327263
Gas carrier7452537755
General cargo/ multi-purpose ship163184154129135
Heavy load carrier2519304036
High speed passenger craft00000
Livestock carrier5749525629
MODU or FPSO02000
NLS tanker2827253031
Offshore service vessel1017191215
Oil tanker227194155168126
Oil tanker/ chemical tanker00002
Other types of ship2129142118
Passenger ship5147555623
Refrigerated cargo ship42321
Ro-ro cargo ship66292
Ro-ro passenger ship00101
Special purpose ship1487108
Tugboat4028302426
Vehicle carrier197180181172122
Wood-chip carrier7772666252
Totals36753128292232223021

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

 20162017201820192020% of total in 2020
Port Hedland24731144169449716.5%
Fremantle44841641038231210.3%
Sydney2822051902822498.2%
Brisbane3042782382492488.2%
Newcastle4013162122072357.8%
Gladstone2512061811472147.1%
Dampier2811871561591755.8%
Hay Point2551801551841575.2%
Port Adelaide908899561093.6%
Melbourne1511561561511043.4%
Townsville1151008175752.5%
Geraldton1279483100742.4%
Port Kembla162834943622.1%
Bunbury44323331581.9%
Darwin9496110137581.9%

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/territoryPSC inspections
Western Australia1192
Queensland840
New South Wales547
Victoria153
South Australia126
Tasmania104
Northern Territory59
Total3021

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 States20162017201820192020
PANAMA942763622678703
LIBERIA360304340401399
MARSHALL ISLANDS358337377405397
HONG KONG, CHINA426311306399330
SINGAPORE368326292289295
MALTA196210186191184
BAHAMAS13812197119114
JAPAN7160545866
NORWAY4955537055
CYPRUS8773636654
GREECE8149606347
ISLE OF MAN5452545440

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

Table 7—Total ships inspected by flag State

Flag State20162017201820192020
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA5144313037
BAHAMAS13812198119114
BARBADOS13512
BELGIUM638312
BELIZE00100
BERMUDA291511177
BRAZIL10000
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM01100
CAYMAN ISLANDS2334322929
CHINA7053466336
COMOROS11000
COOK ISLANDS77558
CROATIA55301
CYPRUS8773636654
DENMARK2216122412
DOMINICA00010
EGYPT00100
ESTONIA00000
FAROE ISLANDS10000
FIJI24200
FRANCE138383
GERMANY79641
GIBRALTAR74722
GREECE8149606347
HONG KONG, CHINA426312306399330
INDIA791165
INDONESIA50200
IRAN (ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF)01000
IRELAND10000
ISLE OF MAN5452545440
ITALY2016212420
JAMAICA10020
JAPAN7260555866
KOREA (THE REPUBLIC OF)4948363727
KUWAIT34443
LIBERIA360304340401399
LIBYA10120
LUXEMBOURG1175165
MALAYSIA8810128
MALTA196210186191184
MARSHALL ISLANDS358337377405397
NETHERLANDS1720182223
NEW ZEALAND33321
NORWAY4955527055
PAKISTAN11001
PANAMA941761621678703
PAPUA NEW GUINEA97401
PHILIPPINES271923119
PORTUGAL2531434235
QATAR00205
RUSSIAN FEDERATION00010
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES14200
SAUDI ARABIA21020
SINGAPORE368328292289295
SOLOMON ISLANDS30000
SOUTH AFRICA10000
SPAIN10121
SRI LANKA11010
SWEDEN1410772
SWITZERLAND127511
TAIWAN (PROVINCE OF CHINA)1874910
TANZANIA (UNITED REPUBLIC OF)01000
THAILAND99966
TURKEY83131
TUVALU01012
UNITED KINGDOM3128232218
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA25220
VANUATU77543
VIETNAM11200
Total:36753128292232223021

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

Contents