FSQC FLAG STATE QUALITY CONTROL

World Scene

There are many international Conventions in force or waiting to come into force today. And yet,

ships are often found not fully complying with the requirements in the Conventions. Flag State control is identified as inadequate in many instances causing the problem. As a result, the international community is prompted to carry out Port State Control (PSC) inspections to alleviate the problem but realizing that PSC regime is an imperfect test. The ultimate solution should come from proper flag State implementation.

Reasons for Changes Made to the Hong Kong Shipping Register

Hong Kong is a responsible flag administration. She had inherited the British practices in dealing with registration and ship inspection. The general attitude in MD was one of strict regulation

enforcement with customer convenience coming second. This attitude was not helpful in attracting new tonnage to the register.

As a Flag State, Hong Kong always ensures that ships registered with the register are meeting

international standards and the RO's, who are delegated with the powers, are carrying out their work satisfactorily. Some statutory inspections were carried out by MD(Marine Department) which served to monitor the work of ROs and to ensure the safety standards of the ships. Inspections carried out by MD were more costly than ROs. Technically speaking, these inspections duplicated the work of ROs at the expense of the ship-owners. Ways had to be found to reduce the cost to ship-owners while adhering to our international obligations.

The objective of maintaining the Hong Kong register is not to obtain financial gain for the Hong

Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government through the registration service but to

enhance the status of Hong Kong as an international maritime centre and the consequent economic benefits arising from being such a centre.

Hong Kong Shipping Register

It was realised that the traditional ship inspection schemes followed by all advanced maritime

administrations were costly and user unfriendly.

The Hong Kong Shipping Register reformed its operation based on the total flag State quality

control philosophy. A scheme known as the Flag State Quality Control (FSQC) System was developed under the philosophy. Quality ships are believed to be the products of the hard work of four parties, namely, crew, ship-owners, ROs and the flag administration. The main elements of the scheme are:

* The flag State should take the responsibilities in ensuring the safety of its ships.

* All inspection and certification functions should be delegated to ROs to minimize flag State interference on the efficient operation of the vessels.

* Monitoring can be carried out through the information from ROs, Port State Control inspections, casualties etc. The information is analysed to identify ships which qualities are declining.

* After the analysis, the bottom 10% of ships and their operating companies will be identified and selected for inspections (FSQC inspections) by MD. However the cost of such inspections will not be passed on to the ship-owners but absorbed by the revenue generated by the HKSR.

* FSQC inspections will concentrate on management deficiencies rather than

rectification of the technical deficiencies found.

* Reports of FSQC inspections will be sent to the relevant ship operators and ROs and

meetings held with them to discuss the findings and for the remedial actions.

The implementation of the FSQC System has made it possible to monitor the performance of

the ships, recognized organisations (ROs) and ship management companies better. The ability to

select ships and inspect them on our own accord has made it possible to assess the true quality of

ships. The performance of both the ships, ROs and ship management companies can be assessed

more accurately than in the previous practice of inspecting all ships at regular intervals.