RightShip revises timing for younger vessel inspections after industry pushback
Vetting agency RightShip’s plan to cut the inspection threshold of vessels from 14 to 10 years is going ahead, but with greater flexibility and longer roll-out following industry criticism
Dry bulk vessels are seriously lagging behind other sectors on safety metrics and are 10 times more likely to be detained by port state control than some other ship classes. RightShip’s plan to start vetting vessels earlier is part of a plan to start addressing serious concerns over dry bulk’s ageing fleet
SHIPS as young as 10 years old are to be subjected to enhanced safety inspections by vetting agency RightShip, but not until 2027.
RightShip's decision to lower its vessel inspection age trigger, reducing the inspection threshold from 14 years to 10 years has been revised slightly to address industry concerns over timing and flexibility.
A phased approach is now being adopted, but the basic plan inspect dry bulk and general cargo vessels from a much younger age is being rolled out from March 2025 amid growing concerns regarding risks associated with ageing dry bulk vessels in a fleet that now has an average age of 14.7 years.
The dry bulk sector has long lagged behind all other sectors in terms of critical safety metrics, with bulk carriers experiencing the highest incident ratio at according to RightShip’s data. Fatalities are also significantly more prevalent in dry bulk and they have a port state control detention ratio which is four times higher than that of oil tankers.
The decision to reduce the vessel inspection age trigger initially sparked “deep concerns” from dry bulk representative body Intercargo when it was first unveiled in October. In addition to the complaints over lack of consultation, the big issues focused on capacity, with a particular concern over the current 13-year-old vessel demographic expected to create a costly logjam in inspections.
Following a consultation process, the initial plan has been revised with timelines pushed back slightly to “align with operational realities”, explained RightShip, which has now “spaced everything out to give everyone the capacity to do what they need to do”.
Effectively that has meant extending the roll-out into four phases, increasing the flexibility in scheduling and aligning inspections for vessels aged 10 years with the second special survey drydock to come with a three-month buffer post-completion before inspection requirements take effect.
RightShip has also thrown in a cash incentive to help win over any remaining detractors. Vessels built after October 1, 2011 that complete inspections between January and June 2025 are eligible for a $1,000 inspection fee credit, encouraging early participation and spreading out inspection workloads.
That, along with the promise of a 90% expansion in RightShip’s inspector pool by October 2025 to handle any logjams, appears to have been sufficient for all important industry bodies, including Intercargo, to welcome the move as a pragmatic step forward in improving safety standards across the sector.
While the decision to lower the inspection age from 14 to 10 years remains unchanged, RightShip chief executive Steen Lund stressed that the revised process now struck the right balance between advancing safer operations while giving vessel owners, operators and crew the necessary time to adapt.
“The key here is the data clearly shows there are approximately the same amount of [port state control] detentions, fatalities and incidents for these slightly younger vessels as there are for the ships aged 14 years and up,” said Lund.
“So, we have a responsibility to work with the industry to see whether we can assign the same safety regime for the younger vessels. We listened to the market and the revisions in the timeline are pragmatic. It’s far more important that we get to it than we get to it fast and that was essentially the theory behind delaying the initial plans a little bit.”
While safety is the key driver behind the changes, Lund has also stressed the economic argument during industry consultations.
“The rate of detentions of a dry bulk vessel versus a tanker is more than four times,” he said. “If we compare with a LNG carrier, it’s well beyond 10 times. So, there is an imperative to act here just on the basis of economic value destruction from port state control detentions alone.”
Last year, according to RightShip’s calculations, dry bulk carriers lost 3,200 vessel days to port state control detentions around the world.
“A dry bulk vessel that hasn’t been RightShip inspected that is more than 14 years old is more likely, by a factor of three to four times, to be detained by port state,” said Lund.
