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AMSA Annual PSC Report 2025: 237 ships were detained in total
Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has issued its Annual Port State Control (PSC) report for 2025, revealing deficiencies related to the International Safety Management (ISM) category were the most prevalent once again, like 2024.
According to the data, PSC inspections increased by 22.26% to 2,768 initial inspections in 2025 (from 2,264 in 2024). The detention rate fell to 4.8% (from 5.9%), below the 10-year average of 5.7%, suggesting improved compliance among foreign-flagged vessels. Deficiencies per inspection remained broadly stable at 2.73 (up from 2.63), still above the long-term average. Overall, the data indicates improved targeting effectiveness and better compliance outcomes.
| 2024-25 Port State Control arrivals and inspections | ||||||
| PSC category | 2024 | 2025 | Difference | % change | ||
| Total arrivals | 28,650 | 28,639 | -11 | -0.04% | ||
| Individual ships which made those arrivals | 6,061 | 6,153 | 92 | 1.52% | ||
| Ships eligible for PSC inspection | 5,884 | 5,976 | 92 | 1.56% | ||
| Inspections | 2,264 | 2,768 | 504 | 22.26% | ||
| Inspections by individual ships | 2,002 | 2,507 | 505 | 25.22% | ||
| Inspection rate of eligible ships | 34% | 42% | 8% | 23.30% | ||
| Deficiencies | 5,960 | 7,561 | 1601 | 26.86% | ||
| Detainable deficiencies | 185 | 187 | 2 | 1.08% | ||
| Rate of deficiencies per inspection | 2.63 | 2.73 | 0.1 | 3.76% | ||
| Detentions | 133 | 133 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Detentions as a % of inspections | 5.9% | 4.8% | -1.1% | -18.21% | ||
2025 Deficiencies by category and ship type
By ship type, bulk carriers were by far the dominant source of deficiencies, accounting for 4,563 cases, which is substantially higher than any other category. However, this is not surprising given bulk carriers accounted for 51.8% of ship arrivals and 58% of all inspections. Overall, the data shows a clear concentration of deficiencies in bulk carriers and a broad increase across categories year-on-year, alongside a modest rise in deficiency rates.
| Ship Type | Structural / Equipment | Operational | Human Factor | ISM | MLC | Total Deficiencies |
| Bulk carrier | 2,445 | 507 | 658 | 234 | 719 | 4,563 |
| Chemical tanker | 19 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Combination carrier | 12 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 23 |
| Container ship | 582 | 159 | 144 | 57 | 166 | 1,108 |
| Gas carrier | 28 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 59 |
| Gas carrier / NLS Tanker | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| General cargo / multipurpose | 329 | 66 | 77 | 30 | 93 | 595 |
| Heavy load carrier | 15 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 20 |
| Livestock carrier | 42 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 62 |
| NLS tanker | 14 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 21 |
| Offshore service vessel | 26 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 49 |
| Oil tanker | 117 | 27 | 24 | 7 | 27 | 202 |
| Oil tanker / chemical tanker | 109 | 23 | 31 | 9 | 36 | 208 |
| Oil tanker / NLS tanker | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| Other types of ship | 44 | 43 | 13 | 8 | 15 | 123 |
| Passenger ship | 50 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 78 |
| Refrigerated cargo vessel | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| Ro-ro cargo ship | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Special purpose ship | 9 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| Tugboat | 23 | 11 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 50 |
| Vehicle carrier | 103 | 26 | 44 | 8 | 45 | 226 |
| Wood-chip carrier | 49 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 36 | 111 |
| 2025 Total | 4,029 | 914 | 1,071 | 365 | 1,185 | 7,561 |
| 2025 Deficiency Rates | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 2.7 |
| 2024 Total | 3,210 | 782 | 741 | 293 | 934 | 5,960 |
| 2024 Deficiency Rates | 1.42 | 0.35 | 0.33 | 0.13 | 0.41 | 2.63 |
Detainable deficiencies by type (2024–2025)
The deficiencies per PSC inspection remained consistent in 2025 with a deficiency rate of 2.73 compared to 2.63 in 2024. This rate remained higher than the 10-year rolling average of 2.29 deficiencies per inspection. This increase reflects a higher proportion of inspections being directed toward high-risk ships, which typically present more complex and numerous deficiencies.
| Deficiency Type | 2024 Count | 2024 Share | 2025 Count | 2025 Share | Trend |
| ISM | 51 | 27.57% | 50 | 26.7% | ↓ |
| Water / weather-tight conditions | 24 | 12.97% | 32 | 17.1% | ↑ |
| Lifesaving appliances | 21 | 11.35% | 27 | 14.1% | ↑ |
| Fire safety | 28 | 15.14% | 25 | 13.4% | ↓ |
| Emergency systems | 14 | 7.57% | 14 | 7.5% | ↓ |
| Pollution prevention – Annex I | 15 | 8.11% | 12 | 6.4% | ↓ |
| Labour conditions | 10 | 5.41% | 11 | 5.9% | ↑ |
| Other | 5 | 2.7% | 5 | 2.7% | – |
| Propulsion and auxiliary machinery | 2 | 1.08% | 3 | 1.6% | ↑ |
| Safety of navigation | 0 | 0.00% | 3 | 1.6% | ↑ |
| Cargo operations including equipment | 0 | 0.00% | 2 | 1.1% | ↑ |
| Certificates and documentation | 8 | 4.32% | 1 | 0.5% | ↓ |
| Pollution prevention – Annex IV | 2 | 1.08% | 1 | 0.5% | ↓ |
| Radio communications | 3 | 1.62% | 1 | 0.5% | ↓ |
Domestic commercial vessels (DCVs)
In 2025, AMSA conducted 2,481 initial DCV inspections (up from 2,275 in 2024), including 122 inspections with operational monitoring of drills or procedures to assess safety management systems. Detentions occurred in 4.07% of inspections (up from 3.34%), while deficiencies per inspection fell to 3.38 (down from 3.69), indicating improved overall compliance. However, detainable deficiencies rose significantly from 140 to 198 (+41.4%), pointing to ongoing serious safety issues, particularly in structural conditions and Safety Management System (SMS) implementation.
Flag state control (FSC)
For Australian-flagged vessels, FSC inspections increased to 80 in 2025 (from 69 in 2024). The detention rate decreased slightly to 3.75% (from 4.35%), reflecting stable performance. However, deficiencies per inspection rose to 5.44 (from 4.96), largely due to a stronger focus on higher-risk ships that typically present more issues. One Australian vessel was detained during overseas port State inspections, highlighting continued gaps in ISM Code compliance, although one deficiency was outside AMSA’s remit (ship security).
source : safety4sea
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