What Port State Control Checks on Decks
Fire safety was the leading deficiency area in the Paris MoU's 2025 report, and a 2026 campaign targets cargo securing. What PSC checks on a vehicle deck.
Port State control has not published a car-carrier checklist, but the areas it focuses on land squarely on the vehicle deck. Fire safety was the leading deficiency area in the Paris MoU's 2025 annual report, a year with 688 detentions and 19 bans. The Paris and Tokyo MoUs ran a joint concentrated inspection campaign on fire safety in late 2023, and their 2026 campaign, running from 1 September to 30 November, is on cargo securing.
What does PSC look at on a vehicle deck?
The fire systems the ship is required to carry, and whether the crew can operate them. Inspectors check that fixed fire detection is working and not left in fault or isolated, that fire doors and ventilation closures operate, that the fixed extinguishing system is ready and its boundaries can be closed, and that the crew know the procedures. On a ship built from 2026, or an existing ro-pax from its first survey after 1 January 2028, that extends to the new SOLAS II-2/20 requirements, including video monitoring on passenger ships.
Why do standing faults matter so much?
Because an inspector opening the fire panel reads a fault list before anything else. A detection zone left in fault, or a section isolated after loading and never restored, reads as an inoperative system, and on a car carrier that is also the failure behind a real casualty. The NTSB found that Höegh Xiamen's fire detection had not been reactivated after loading in Jacksonville in 2020, which delayed detection of the fire that destroyed the ship. A system that is easy to isolate needs a procedure that makes restoring it just as reliable.
What is the 2026 cargo-securing campaign checking?
Compliance with the SOLAS rules on loading, stowage and securing of cargo units. Officers use a ten-question questionnaire covering the approved Cargo Securing Manual, the condition and maintenance of securing equipment, and whether the crew apply the manual; seven of the questions can ground a detention. On a car carrier that puts lashing points, belts and records in front of the inspector from September to November 2026.
How can an operator prepare?
By making the evidence easy to produce. PSC works from what it can see and what the ship can show in the time available.
- Keep the fire panel free of standing faults, with a procedure and record for restoring any section isolated during loading.
- Test fire doors, ventilation closures and fixed-system boundaries, and record the tests.
- Have drill records that show the crew operating the vehicle-deck fire systems.
- Bring the Cargo Securing Manual, gear inspection records and application on deck up to date ahead of the 2026 campaign.
How RoRoSAFE helps
As PSC scrutiny of fire safety and cargo sharpens, what inspectors want is documented evidence that the deck is watched and alarms are handled. RoRoSAFE keeps tamper-evident event logs and audit trails of every per-vehicle alert and acknowledgement, with export-ready reports. It adds early detection above what is required, without changing the class-mandated systems the inspector checks.
Pilot: one deck · installed alongside the berth · no drydock · 6 months of dashboard access
Sources
- 1. Paris MoU — Annual Report 2025: 688 detentions, 19 bans, fire safety the leading deficiency area. Reported by SAFETY4SEA.
- 2. Paris MoU and Tokyo MoU — joint Concentrated Inspection Campaign on Fire Safety, 1 September to 30 November 2023.
- 3. Paris MoU and Tokyo MoU — joint Concentrated Inspection Campaign on Cargo Securing, 1 September to 30 November 2026: ten-question questionnaire, seven questions detainable.
- 4. NTSB MAR-21/04 — Höegh Xiamen, Jacksonville, 4 June 2020: detection systems not reactivated after loading, delaying detection. As analysed in 'Höegh Xiamen: Anatomy of a Total Loss'.
- 5. IMO Resolution MSC.550(108) — SOLAS II-2/20 amendments in force 1 January 2026; existing ro-pax by first survey after 1 January 2028.
Questions, answered
What does port State control check on a car carrier's vehicle deck?+
The fire systems the ship must carry and the crew's ability to use them: fixed detection working and not in fault, fire doors and ventilation closures operating, the fixed extinguishing system ready with closable boundaries, and procedures known to the crew. New ships and, from 2028, existing ro-pax also face the 2026 SOLAS II-2/20 requirements.
Is fire safety a common PSC deficiency?+
Yes. Fire safety was the leading deficiency area in the Paris MoU's 2025 annual report, a year with 688 detentions and 19 bans. The Paris and Tokyo MoUs also ran a joint concentrated inspection campaign on fire safety from September to November 2023.
What is the 2026 PSC campaign on cargo securing?+
A joint Paris and Tokyo MoU concentrated inspection campaign from 1 September to 30 November 2026. Inspectors apply a ten-question questionnaire on the Cargo Securing Manual, securing equipment and how the crew apply the manual. Seven of the ten questions can lead to detention.
Why do isolated detection sections matter at inspection?+
Because a section left isolated or in fault reads as an inoperative system. It is also a real casualty cause: the NTSB found Höegh Xiamen's detection had not been reactivated after loading in 2020, delaying detection of the fire. Operators need a procedure and a record for restoring every section isolated during loading.
Continue the thread
Does Car-Carrier Fire Compliance Arrive in 2027?
No. 2027 holds no entry-into-force date. The calendar is 2026 (new passenger ships), 2028 (existing ro-pax) and 2032 at the earliest for PCTCs.
Did Felicity Ace Change Car-Carrier Insurance?
Less than the headlines said. It cost cargo insurers ~$400M of cars, hull one 2005 PCTC, MOL a failed subrogation; what changed was conditions, not rates.