Ship vetting expert RightShip is set to inspect dry bulk vessels as young as 10 years.
The Singapore-based group, owned by leading commodity traders and charterers Rio Tinto, BHP and Cargill, currently has an inspection regime for dry bulk and general cargo vessels of 14 years and older.
It will change the age inspection trigger to 12 years at the end of March 2025. A year later, the age will fall to 10 years for an annual inspection.
An additional change is the removal of the 8,000-dwt minimum being inspected when a ship turns 25. This means all vessel sizes on the RightShip platform can be inspected annually after their second special survey from March 2026.
Dry bulk and general cargo vessels on the platform and built in 2016 or earlier will be subject to at least one inspection a year, according to RightShip chief executive Steen Lund.
“This is voluntary. We are not a regulator, but if an owner or ship manager wants to trade a ship on the RightShip platform, then an inspection is needed annually,” he told TradeWinds.
Poorly performing vessels could be inspected every three months until their ratings improve.
The RightShip platform has 850 subscribers, most of them shipowners and ship managers, according to Lund. There are also 150 charterers, including the group’s three shareholders.
He said the root of the changes is the dry bulk fleet lagging behind other sectors in terms of incidents, fatalities and port state control inspection performance, highlighting the need for a stronger safety regime.
“It was time to have a review and the data showed us it is warranted,” he said.
“The age of the fleet is increasing. It is currently 14.7 years old and the market is holding back on ordering new ships, so the ageing of the fleet will continue.”
Lund is adamant that the changes will have a positive impact on safety and help reduce industry costs due to lost on-hire time caused by PSC detentions.
“In 2023, dry bulk vessels lost almost 3,200 days to detentions and general cargo vessels lost 4,200 days,” he said. “So if there is a dayrate of $10,000 a day, then that is a value destruction of $75m in the year.”
Ramping up inspection capabilities
Steen also confirmed that RightShip has been ramping up capacity to meet the increased number of inspections around the world.
“We do about 12 inspection reports any given day,” he said. “This year is 3,500 inspections.”
Inspections take about 14 hours, although they vary depending on vessel size, age and condition.
The number of inspections will now increase until 2026. By then, RightShip will have around 220 accredited inspectors on its books, up from 140 at the beginning of this year.
The company also employs third-party inspectors in some of the smaller ports of the 950 around the world where inspections are done.
There is little inspection activity driven by the charterer, according to Lund. The majority comes from owners or managers.
The inspection informs the total safety story of the vessel. if an owner elects not to have the ship inspected, that will be noted in a data point as not met.
