AMSA's playbook for the year ahead
How AMSA will act on it
Risk-based inspections
Scheduled and unscheduled Port State Control boardings, prioritised by each ship's inspection history, deficiency trends and detention record.
Focused campaigns
Concentrated Inspection Campaigns add themed checks to routine PSC during a set window. This year the theme is cargo securing and navigational safety.
Education first, then verification
AMSA typically opens with guidance material and awareness bulletins, then follows with focused inspections to measure whether industry responded.
Data collection
Inspectors will gather structured data on scrubber operation and crew fatigue during routine boardings, feeding future rules at IMO and ILO level.
Who this briefing is for
Operators, DPAs and masters of foreign-flagged vessels calling Australian ports. Every focus area below applies to foreign tonnage under Port State Control.
Not covered here
The plan's domestic commercial vessel program (Focus Area 3) and the ISM audits of Australian-flagged passenger vessel operators (Risk Area 1.3) apply to Australian domestic tonnage only, so they are omitted from this briefing. Nothing else in the plan has been left out.
1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027 at a glance
Scroll sideways to see the full year
- Risk-based PSC inspections. Minimum 2,400 boardings, 70% in the two highest risk categories, all year
- OHSMI safety inspections. 15 targeted occupational health & safety inspections, all year
- Hours-of-rest PSC focus. PSC inspections concentrating on work/rest records and crewing adequacy
- Concentrated Inspection Campaign. 1 Sep – 30 Nov 2026 · cargo securing, stowage, navigational safety, pollution prevention · target 80
- Crewing & fatigue safety bulletin. AMSA publishes a Maritime Safety Awareness Bulletin on crewing and fatigue
- Scrubber (EGCS) checks & data collection. Verification of MARPOL Annex VI compliance during routine PSC boardings
Highlighted window: every eligible ship boarded between 1 September and 30 November 2026 should expect the CIC questionnaire on top of the normal PSC scope.
Risk-based PSC targeting: your history decides your boarding odds
Why AMSA is doing this
- 2025 data confirmed the targeting model works: the highest-risk category of ships was detained at 6.6% of inspections versus 3.1% for the lowest, so AMSA is doubling down on aiming inspectors where findings are most likely.
- Concentrating 70% of effort on the two highest risk bands means low-risk, well-run ships are boarded less, and high-risk ships can expect an inspector at almost every eligible port call.
What drives your risk score
- Deficiency history: every finding in the last inspections raises the score, and it follows the ship, not the voyage.
- Detention record: a detention anywhere in the region weighs heavily, and regional MoU data is shared between administrations.
- Ship age, type and flag/RO performance: factors the operator can't change quickly, which makes the controllable ones matter more.
- Time since last inspection: ships that haven't been boarded recently become due.
In 2025 the gap between risk bands was stark: 3.32 deficiencies per inspection and a 6.6% detention rate in the highest band, against 1.96 and 3.1% in the lowest. Staying out of the top bands is worth real money in avoided delays.
Occupational health and safety inspections
Concentrated Inspection Campaign: cargo securing & navigational safety
Why AMSA is doing this
- Containers lost overboard are an immediate hazard to navigation, a pollution source, and a danger to crews during recovery, and regional PSC data shows cargo-securing and stowage deficiencies remain recurrent.
- The campaign runs simultaneously across the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions, so a ship trading the region will face the same questionnaire in every port state; there is nowhere to route around it.
What inspectors will examine
- Cargo Securing Manual: approved, on board, and actually reflected in how cargo is lashed and stowed.
- Lashing equipment: condition, certification and maintenance records for securing gear.
- Crew familiarity: can the crew explain the securing arrangements for the cargo actually carried?
- Navigational safety: passage planning, bridge equipment operation and lookout practices.
- Pollution prevention: record books and equipment relevant to the campaign scope.
The MoUs normally publish the official CIC questionnaire shortly before the campaign opens. We will circulate it to all clients as soon as it is released. Running the questionnaire as a self-check before September is the single best preparation.
Scrubbers under scrutiny: EGCS operation, records and residues
Why AMSA is doing this
- Reports from Australian ports of significant discharges and poor residue management have raised environmental and community concern.
- Inspectors find monitoring equipment defects, recordkeeping gaps, and closed-loop residues that cannot be shown to have stayed on board.
- AMSA is also using scrubber oversight to build its readiness for emerging technologies with similar risk profiles, such as onboard carbon capture, so this focus area will outlive this plan year.
What inspectors will examine
- Washwater discharge compliance: pH, PAH and turbidity criteria, and whether discharge actually stopped where local restrictions apply.
- EGCS documentation: the system's technical manuals, the onboard monitoring manual and the EGC record book, all current and consistent.
- Crew competence: watchkeepers able to explain operating modes (open loop, closed loop, hybrid) and the discharge criteria that apply in each.
- Monitoring equipment: sensors operational, calibrated and logging.
- Residue management: closed-loop residues retained on board and landed to adequate reception facilities, with receipts to prove it.
No scrubber fitted? This risk area does not apply, but ships on compliant fuel should still keep bunker delivery notes and fuel changeover records ready, as Annex VI checks accompany the same boarding.
Crewing and fatigue: the hours-of-rest crackdown
Why AMSA is doing this
- Inspectors report that rest-hour records often do not reflect actual working arrangements, and ships on tight schedules and short voyage patterns are where the gap is widest.
- Crew shortages, administrative burden and commercial pressure are normalising fatigue instead of managing it, with knock-on effects on maintenance, emergency readiness and overall safety.
- Data collected this year feeds Australia's position in live IMO and ILO work on fatigue, crewing and rest hours, meaning today's findings shape tomorrow's international rules.
What inspectors will examine
- Rest-hour records cross-checked against reality: port logs, cargo operation timings, bell books and logbook entries, not just the signed forms.
- Minimum safe manning: whether the crewing level actually allows compliant rest on the ship's real operating pattern.
- Fatigue management in practice: how the SMS handles fatigue risk, and whether masters adjust operations when rest is compromised.
- Individual interviews: inspectors routinely ask crew members privately whether the records match their actual hours.
Why these areas: what 2025 inspections found
ISM remains the finding that detains ships: more than a quarter of 2025's detainable deficiencies were safety-management failures. Every focus area above ultimately tests whether the SMS works in practice; that is the thread connecting the whole plan.
For the full 2025 inspection data (detention rates by ship type, flag and operator benchmarking, and port-by-port figures), see our companion briefing:
AMSA 2025 Inspections Briefing →The master checklist
These recommendations are Webster Ships Agency's reading of the AMSA National Compliance Plan 2026-27, general in nature. For vessel-specific advice on an upcoming Australian port call, contact your WSA boarding agent.
- 1
Audit hours-of-rest records against reality
HighThe PSC focus on rest hours runs July–December 2026 and the 44% deficiency spike means inspectors arrive expecting to find problems. Cross-check records against port logs and cargo timings for the last three months, and fix the recording system where they diverge.
- 2
Complete CIC self-checks before 1 September 2026
HighAny ship calling Australia between September and November will face the cargo-securing and navigational-safety questionnaire. Audit the Cargo Securing Manual against actual practice, overhaul lashing gear records, and drill the deck team in August at the latest.
- 3
Scrubber ships: get EGCS records and crew competence inspection-ready
HighTargeted Annex VI checks run January–June 2027. Reconcile the EGC record book, calibrate and certify monitoring sensors, close the loop on residue receipts, and brief engineers on operating modes and discharge criteria.
- 4
Close out open deficiencies and review your risk profile
Medium70% of at least 2,400 inspections will hit the two highest risk bands. Clear outstanding action codes before arrival and self-inspect against your last three PSC reports; recurring findings are what raise the ship's score.
- 5
Keep the SMS demonstrably alive
MediumISM findings were 26.7% of detainable deficiencies in 2025 and every 2026-27 focus area tests the SMS in practice. Drills done and logged, non-conformities closed, masters' reviews current.
- 6
Confirm whether the OHSMI Act reaches your vessel
Medium15 dedicated OHS inspections will include eligible foreign-flagged ships. If your trade could meet the prescribed-ship definition, verify permit-to-work and injury-reporting practice now, and ask us if unsure.
- 7
Watch for the CIC questionnaire and fatigue bulletin
LowThe MoUs publish the CIC questionnaire shortly before September 2026; AMSA's crewing and fatigue bulletin lands early 2027. WSA will circulate both to all clients the day they are released.
- 8
Brief crews in plain language before Australian calls
LowInspectors interview crew directly on rest hours, cargo securing and scrubber operation alike. A short pre-arrival briefing on what AMSA is focusing on this year is cheap insurance.