Officers of the Flag State Control (FSC) department, Shipping Division completed two
overseas inspections on Singapore-flagged ships calling at Brisbane, Australia in April 2018.
FSC department has embarked on this initiative to enhance monitoring of Singapore-flagged
ships, with the aim to fulfil its flag State obligations under the II Code, entrench the
Singapore's Quality Flag status, and profile Singapore as a responsible Maritime
Administration.
Spin-off benefits from these overseas inspections include networking with other Maritime
Administrations, e.g. AMSA (Australia), understanding better the areas where PSCOs have
concerns with ships calling their ports, increasing our oversight of SRS ships not calling to
Singapore, and subsequently work closely with ship's crew, managers and the ROs with a
view to reduce PSC intervention.
The overseas inspections were conducted with support from ship owners and local authorities
- sharing of ship arrival schedules and facilitating logistical arrangements like immigration
and entry into port formalities.
Moving forward, FSC department considers to conduct more overseas inspections on underperforming
Singapore ships, at overseas locations such as the United States and the People's
Republic of China.
