DNV has announced that this year’s Port State Control Concentrated Inspection Campaign (PSC CIC), will be taking place from 1 September to 30 November 2025, focusing on ballast water management.
Every year, PSC regimes determine a specific focus area during regular inspections. For 2025, the Paris and Tokyo MoUs have agreed to run a CIC on the topic of ballast water management (BWM). As stated, it is expected that the majority of PSC MoUs will participate in this year’s CIC.
The CIC will be carried out between 1 September and 30November and be supported by an additional questionnairehighlighting the CIC focus areas, usually published in earlyAugust. Once the final questionnaire is published, DNV willissue an update to this news.
Ballast water record book:
Ballast Water Management System (BWMS):
Incorporating these findings into routine on-board maintenanceand ongoing crew familiarization is beneficial for ensuringcontinued compliance. As always, the CIC is part of regularPSC inspections. Inspections will therefore not be limited toBWM; however, during the first PSC inspection in a participating MoU, the CIC topic will be addressed.
In recent years, the primary focus during PSC inspections has shifted from technical issues to operational aspects, such as crew familiarization, training and ongoing maintenance. As a result, ISM-related deficiencies have consistently ranked as the most common – and detainable – deficiencies in detention statistics. It is in the best interest of shipowners to ensure that management systems for ISM, ISPS and MLC are fully operational and compliant – at all times.
DNV suggests that companies perform root cause analysis, incl. corrective actions of individual PSC deficiencies, and include PSC reports and statistics in the annual management reviews for evaluation of effectiveness. Additionally, companies should consider seeking support from DNV during annual audits, as well as utilizing the tools available on DNV’sPSC webpage, such as thePSC Planner,to assist with day-to-day operations.
From the end of August until December, the PSC Planner will also include the questionnaire for this year’s CIC. Please be reminded that, in addition to this CIC campaign, other unscheduled local focus inspection campaigns may also be conducted at the same time.
To support thorough preparation for routine PSC inspections, DNV has revised its so-called Top 18 focus items. Newly added items are clearly marked in green for easy reference. This list is regularly updated and highlights the most frequently recorded detainable deficiencies found during inspections on DNV-classed vessels.
DNV encourages all operators and crew to familiarize themselves with this updated list to always ensure compliance:
