The Paris MOU European regional port state control (PSC) authority has suspended the membership of Russia following its annual meeting.
The move is part of the coordinated international action against Russian state-backed bodies in response to the country’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The Paris MOU said in a statement: “Given the international situation, the Paris MOU committee has decided to suspend the membership of the Russian Maritime Authority with immediate effect and until further notice.”
In a similar move, the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) earlier suspended the Russian Register of Shipping from its membership.
There are currently 27 members of the Paris MOU. The number will not decline following the departure of Russia as Montenegro was accepted as a new member at the annual meeting.
The Paris MOU’s decision will result in some major Russian ports, including the Russian Black Sea Ports, St Petersburg and, in the east of the country, Vladivostok, now falling outside the unified port state control inspection and reporting standards set by the Paris MOU.
The Paris MOU collects PSC inspection data from its member countries to provide a fully transparent database of information on the safety standards of ships calling at European ports.
This year’s Paris MOU annual meeting was held in Bucharest, Romania. It was the first time the Paris MOU had met physically in two years after being forced to meet remotely because of the pandemic.
The impact of the pandemic was the main subject of discussion at the meeting with the Paris MOU seeking to learn from the experience.
The pandemic caused a significant fall in the number of inspections carried out in the region. More recently the Paris MOU said PSC activity has started to “normalise”.
The Paris MOU committee said that the “after effects” of the pandemic on PSC “should be monitored”. It added: “Possible lessons to be learned from the pandemic and the way in which the Paris MOU has dealt with it should also be considered.”
The Paris MOU said its next planned concentrated inspection campaign this year would focus on compliance with the standards of training, certification and watchkeeping.
