From 1 September 2025 to 30 November 2025, the Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control in the Black Sea Region (BS MoU) carried out a Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) focusing on Ballast Water Management.
The campaign involved the member Authorities of the BS MoU that have ratified the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (BWM Convention). This CIC was conducted under the campaign coordination of the Maritime Administration of Türkiye. This campaign was conducted in conjunction with the Paris and Tokyo Memoranda, utilizing their joint Guidelines and Questionnaires. The campaign shows the following preliminary results.
Over the course of the CIC period, a total of 775 inspections were carried out. Of these inspections, 624 inspections were performed using the CIC questionnaire and a ship was subjected to only one CIC inspection during the campaign period. According to data from the Black Sea Information System (BSIS), 76 ships were detained in total. Of which, 52 detentions were the result of inspections with CIC questionnaires and 16 of them were detained as a direct result of the CIC concerning deficiencies related to Ballast Water Management, resulting in a CIC topic related detention rate of 2.56%.
The initial analysis indicates that non-conformities identified during the CIC were largely focused on a limited number of areas, with approximately 89.3% of all recorded non-compliances relating to three specific questionnaire items: the operational condition of Ballast Water Management Systems (BWMS), the proper completion of the Ballast Water Record Book (BWRB), and crew familiarization with the Ballast Water Management Plan (BWMP). Among these, BWMS operability emerged as the most significant area of concern, accounting for the highest number of non-conformities and the largest share of CIC related detentions.
During the campaign, vessels registered under the flags of 46 different States were inspected under the CIC scope. The greatest number of inspections were carried out on ships flying the flags of Panama with 117 inspections (18.8%), Liberia with 97 inspections (15.5%) and the Marshall Islands with 43 inspections (6.9%). CIC related detentions involved ships flying the flags of Barbados (3), Belize (1), Liberia (2), Palau (1), Panama (3), Saint Kitts and Nevis (4), Tanzania (1), and Vanuatu (1).
According to type of ship, the highest number of CIC were conducted on bulk carriers with 214 inspections (34.3%), followed by general cargo/multi-purpose ships with 213 inspections (34.1%), oil/chemical tankers with 74 inspections (11.9%) and oil tankers with 68 inspections (10.9%), which comprises 569 total CIC inspections with a rate of 91.2%.
The initial findings further indicate that vessels aged between 15 and 25 years accounted for the majority of CIC related detentions. In addition, ships classified as High Risk Ships recorded substantially higher nonconformity rates than Standard and Low Risk Ships. These results confirm the effectiveness of the BS MoU Ship Risk Profile System in identifying sub-standard vessels and support the continued application of a risk-based inspection approach.
The results of the campaign will be further analysed and the findings will be presented at the 26th meeting of the Black Sea Port State Control Committee, after which the report will be submitted to the International Maritime Organization.