Every year, the Paris and Tokyo Memoranda of Understanding run a Concentrated Inspection Campaign — a defined period during which Port State Control officers apply additional scrutiny to one specific area of compliance, alongside their normal inspection. For the vessels caught by it, a CIC is the difference between a routine port call and a detention.
The campaigns are announced in advance. The topic is published. The questionnaire the officer works from is, in most cases, available to read. And yet CICs continue to generate deficiencies at a rate that suggests many vessels are meeting them unprepared.
How a CIC works in practice
A CIC is not a separate inspection. It is a questionnaire applied during an ordinary PSC inspection, typically over a three-month window in the second half of the year. The officer works through a defined list of items on the campaign topic in addition to whatever else the inspection covers.
Three consequences follow from that structure:
- You cannot avoid it by having a clean record. The campaign questionnaire applies to vessels selected for inspection regardless of their previous history.
- The topic is narrow and deep. A normal PSC inspection samples broadly. A CIC goes further into one subject than an officer would ordinarily have time for.
- Findings can escalate quickly. Where the campaign area reveals a serious deficiency, the outcome can be detention, and campaign results are reported and published in aggregate.
Why prepared vessels still fail
The published topic creates a false sense of security. Crews are briefed on the subject, the relevant certificates are checked, and the vessel is considered ready. What that briefing usually misses is that the campaign questionnaire tests the operation, not the topic.
A campaign on cargo securing, for example, does not simply ask whether the Cargo Securing Manual is on board and approved. It asks whether the securing arrangements in use match the manual, whether the crew applying them understand the loading conditions the manual assumes, whether the equipment is in the condition the manual requires, and whether inspections of that equipment have been recorded. The certificate is the easy part.
The same pattern holds across campaign topics. The document is checked in the first five minutes. The remainder of the time is spent establishing whether the document describes what actually happens on board.
Preparing properly
Effective CIC preparation tends to have four components:
- Work from the actual questionnaire. Where the campaign questionnaire is published, walk the vessel through it item by item rather than briefing on the topic in general terms.
- Verify on deck, not in the office. Most campaign deficiencies are found by physical inspection of equipment and arrangements. A desktop review of the documentation will not surface them.
- Check the records exist and are current. Campaign items frequently require evidence of inspection, maintenance or training. Missing records are treated as missing compliance.
- Brief the crew who will be asked. The officer will speak to the people responsible for the operation, not only to the Master. Those crew members need to be able to explain the arrangement in their own words.
Treat it as a rehearsal for the rest of the year
There is a longer-term argument for taking CICs seriously that has nothing to do with the campaign itself. A campaign forces a fleet to examine one operational area in genuine depth, against an external standard, on a known deadline. That is a useful discipline regardless of the topic — and the vessels that treat each campaign as a structured internal audit rather than a compliance hurdle tend to carry the benefit into their vetting performance.
The campaign topic changes every year. The underlying question does not: can the people responsible for this operation explain it, demonstrate it and evidence it to someone who does not already know your ship.
Charted Waters provides PSC preparation, marine audits and crew inspection readiness support for shipowners and ship managers. To discuss how your fleet is preparing for the current campaign, contact our team.
