Following a decision by the Paris MoU Committee in May 2018, its Port State Control (PSC) data files are no longer available to third parties since 1 January 2019. In practical terms, this means that vessel information needs to be checked individually per vessel rather than for entire fleets or larger groups of vessels. These restrictions have serious repercussions for the previous users of the data, including for marine insurers, as they provide major insights for effective risk and safety assessment.

IUMI shared the views of marine insurers on the data restrictions with the Paris MoU Secretariat in a letter earlier this year. PSC information is a crucial component for the risk assessment conducted by marine insurers. Various factors play a role in assessing a risk, and the PSC data are an essential element for effective risk assessment. PSC data are also part of the marine insurance statistics gathered by individual companies and at a larger scale by insurance associations. By identifying potential risks, these statistics and casualty trends facilitate effective loss prevention measures and help avoid incidents before they occur.

All of these reasons show the necessity for electronic data files that cover complete fleets rather than individual vessels to be available to marine insurers. For effective statistical analysis it is not helpful to incorporate single vessel information into the various risk models. Only when put in relation to larger numbers and combined with other information can the PSC data be used effectively. Marine insurers depend on data files from Paris MoU. Therefore, IUMI urges the Paris MoU Committee to reconsider their decision to restrict access to the data files.