A spat between maritime authorities and RightShip over a safety rating downgrade of Dutch-flag ships appears to have influenced the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on port state control (Paris MoU) to consider withholding raw data from the Australian company.
TradeWinds reported last week that the Paris MoU has decided to review the provision of port state control (PSC) data to third-party distributor IHS Markit, which sells it on to RightShip and other safety organisations.
The move is being interpreted as an attempt to withdraw RightShip's access to the data after the European PSC agency became unhappy with some of the agency's ratings since it introduced digitalised system Qi in November 2016.
TradeWinds understands a dialogue has been running since the beginning of the year between the Dutch maritime administration, shipowners and RightShip over a significant downgrade of hundreds of vessels in the Dutch-flag fleet.
Under Qi, the ratings for some ships have gone from “very high to very low”.
Court Action
The issue was raised at government level by the Royal Dutch Shipowners Association, which has also considered legal action against RightShip.
The downgrade has annoyed the Dutch because under the Paris MoU the Netherlands is the fourth-best performing flag worldwide in terms of PSC and is listed among an elite group of low-risk flags.
The Dutch authorities also claim that downgraded vessels have been denied commercial opportunities.
The problem has arisen because algorithms used by Qi put more weight on the number of casualty and safety-related incidents a ship has reported than it does on a vessel's PSC record.
The Qi model is based on predictive analytics that seek to gauge the risk of an incident occurring.
The Dutch flag’s fleet of 1,000 ships is predominantly made up of small multipurpose and general cargo vessels working in coastal waters, making them one of the most incident prone vessel types.
RightShip’s chief executive Warwick Norman earlier told TradeWinds he is unaware what prompted the Paris MoU to review its data distribution, adding that he has yet to be informed of any developments by the Hague-based organisation.
But the Dutch complaint may sound familiar to some shipowners who tell TradeWinds they are unhappy with their ratings since the introduction of Qi.
A common theme among critics is that Qi is inflexible and lacks transparency. They add owners only find out why their vessels have been downgraded if they are informed by a charterer who cites it as a reason for declining a vessel.
RightShip says the system is fully transparent. It adds that owners can enquire at anytime for their rating free of charge, and any changes due to an incident or PSC deficiency will be rectified once the owner informs RightShip and the incident has been "closed out".
Intense competition
RightShip is the largest ship safety rating agency in the world and its ratings hold significant influence on charterers in selecting a ship, a factor which takes on even greater significance in the current poor market where competition is intense.
The Paris MoU says regardless of its final decision, its PSC data will continue to be published on the Paris MoU and Equasis websites.
However, RightShip has argued it needs the data in its “raw” form to ensure the speed and accuracy of its ratings. The company was set up to improve the safety of the bulker chartering market but now operates in all shipping sectors.
