Qualship 21 freight ships will be eligible for a maximum of 2 years of limited Port State Control oversight. While annual exams of these vessels will be eliminated (and replaced with biennial exams), the COTP may continue to board these ships when overriding factors are present, as described in current guidance.
Qualship 21 tank ships must still be examined annually, but the mid-period examination of a Qualship 21 tank vessel may be reduced in scope. In general, the scope of the mid-period examination shall be the same as for the biennial exam, but will be in less detail, unless it is determined that major changes have occurred since the last examination, or conditions warrant an expanded Port State Control exam. The mid-period examination shall be performed on these tank ships that visit U.S, waters between the tenth and fourteenth month of the period for which the Certificate of Compliance (COC) and Qualship 21 Certificates are valid. A vessel that does not visit U.S. waters, and receive a mid-period examination, before the completion of the last day of the fourteenth month, may be subject to a biennial exam.
Qualship 21 Passenger vessels will not be eligible for a reduction in any Port State Control exams. While passenger vessels have an excellent safety record in the U.S., there is too much at risk to consider any changes to our passenger vessel examination policy. However, passenger vessels receiving the designation may find that it is a valuable marketing tool.
Will port fees be lowered for Qualship 21 vessels?
The European Green Award has been identifying and rewarding quality vessels for many years. Their program audits vessel operations, and Green Award vessels receive reduced port fees, discounts on chandlery services, towing, line handling, etc... The port structure in the U.S, makes this type of program difficult to implement. However, we are working with the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) to locate ports that are willing to provide reduced port fees for Qualship 21 vessels. These participating ports may establish an additional quality standard, such as meeting the voluntary emission standards of MARPOL Annex VI, in order to qualify for the reduced port fees.
Who determines which vessels will be awarded Qualship 21 designation?
Office of Compliance (G-MOC-2) personnel will perform an initial screening of vessels to develop a list of Qualship 21 ships that appear to meet the qualification criteria. In January 2001, G-MOC will send letters to eligible vessel owners, and invite them to participate in the initiative. To qualify for the original list, these owners will be required to answer a series of questions to verify that our initial screening of the vessel was correct.
