Identifying substandard vessels through Port State Control inspections: A new methodology for Concentrated Inspection Campaigns

Substandard vessels that fail to comply with international maritime regulations are the target of Port State Control inspections. Despite their significant costs, many inspections do not lead to any detentions and, in a significant number of cases, no deficiencies are detected. In this paper, quantile regressions for count data are used to estimate the likelihood of having a high number of deficiencies of a specific type. The purpose is to complement existing practices focusing on detention with the objective to improve the selection process. Similar factors influence the likelihood of having a vessel detained and that of having a vessel recording a high number of deficiencies. However, quantile regressions applied to the number of deficiencies help improving the identification of factors influencing the likelihood of finding some specific types of deficiencies, which is the focus of Concentrated Inspection Campaigns. The paper concludes that the selection process for such campaigns should be improved using this new methodology.