Shipping, shipbuilding, offshore news

Shipping, shipbuilding, offshore news:
"USCG port state detentions rise
The U.S. Coast Guard has issued its Annual Port State Control Report for 2004, examining the safety and security compliance of foreign-flag vessels visiting the U.S. last year.
Safety compliance declined slightly in 2004 with 2.43 percent of vessels detained because of poor compliance with safety standards, an increase from 1.99 percent in 2003, but still less than the 2.5 percent that were detained in 2002.
But the report notes that foreign-flagged vessel compliance with new international security requirements was better than expected in the first six months of implementation, with only 2.5 percent of vessels arriving in U.S. ports found to be significantly non-compliant with the new security requirements, and denied entry to port, detainedor expelled from port as a result. In all, there were 176 safety related vessel detentions last year, compared with 153 in 2003. "

It's possible to make a case that Port State enforcement does as much good as everything else put together. I won't, but one could!