Surveys, audits and port state control

How surveys, safety and labour audits and port state inspections work, and how a ship gets ready for them.

7 lessons 1 h 45 min Practical 3D simulator in every lesson Course completed card

Written by Al Safwan Marine service engineersRules checked 20 October 2026

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Lesson 1 is open to everyone. An account (just your email) opens all 7 lessons and saves your progress.

What you'll learn

Work out every survey window on a ship’s certificates, and what happens if one is missed or an extension is needed.
Explain the roles of the flag State, recognised organisations, classification societies and port States, and where each one’s responsibility ends.
Prepare a ship and a company for ISM Code, ISPS Code and MLC 2006 audits and inspections, including the medicine chest.
Check escape route signs and equipment location markings against resolution A.1116(30) and ISO 24409.
Prepare for a port State control inspection, and know which findings lead to detention and how to get a ship released.

Course content

7 lessons · 1 h 45 min total

Lesson 1 is open to everyone. An account opens the rest.

1 Statutory certificates and the survey windows (HSSC) 15 min · 3D simulator · Quiz Open

You will be able to read any ship's certificates, work out every survey window, and know what a missed window or an extension really means.

Open lesson 1

2 Flag, class and recognised organisations: who does what 14 min · 3D simulator · Quiz With an account

You will know which body is responsible for each survey, certificate and decision, and where to go when something needs fixing or approving.

See how lesson 2 starts

3 ISM Code audits: DOC, SMC and what auditors look for 16 min · 3D simulator · Quiz With an account

You will know how the DOC and SMC audit cycle runs, how findings are graded and closed, and how a port State officer turns a broken item into an ISM deficiency.

See how lesson 3 starts

4 ISPS Code verification: the ship security plan and the ISSC 14 min · 3D simulator · Quiz With an account

You will know how the ISSC cycle works, which security records must be on board, and what a port State officer may and may not ask to see.

See how lesson 4 starts

5 MLC 2006 inspection and the ship's medical care 16 min · 3D simulator · Quiz With an account

You will know how the maritime labour certificate is inspected and renewed, what an inspector checks in the medical locker, and which amendments apply now and from 2027.

See how lesson 5 starts

6 IMO safety signs and markings: A.1116(30) and ISO 24409 13 min · 3D simulator · Quiz With an account

You will be able to walk a ship and check every escape sign, equipment marking and fire control symbol against A.1116(30) and the SOLAS rules behind it.

See how lesson 6 starts

7 Port state control: how to prepare and what gets ships detained 17 min · 3D simulator · Quiz With an account

You will understand how a PSC inspection runs from the gangway to the report, what makes an officer detain a ship, and how to prepare a ship that passes.

See how lesson 7 starts

Course completed card
With your name and a link anyone can checkAt the end

Inside a lesson

Every lesson in this course has the same five steps: a primer, a 3D tour of the part (Watch it), the reading, a task you do on the 3D machine yourself (Try it) and a short quiz. 7 lessons use this simulator.

A modern product tanker alongside: the gangway, bridge, lifeboat, liferafts, fire station and cargo deck an inspector walks round

Who this is for

Deck officers
Engineers
Superintendents
DPAs
CSOs
Service technicians
Surveyors

No experience needed: every lesson starts with a short primer in plain words.

Your Course completed card

Finish every lesson to get a Course completed card with your name and a QR code anyone can scan to verify.

Share it on LinkedIn, WhatsApp and elsewhere, or download the picture.

It shows you completed online familiarisation training. It is not a certificate or an STCW, flag-approved or manufacturer qualification, and it doesn't replace that training.

About this course

A man on the quay checking a bulk carrier alongside at dusk — Photo: abdo alshreef on Pexels

Every ship lives on a calendar of surveys, audits and inspections. The flag State, or a classification society acting for it, surveys the hull and equipment and issues the safety certificates. Auditors check the safety management system, the ship security plan and seafarers’ working and living conditions. Then, in almost every port, a port State control officer can walk up the gangway and ask to see all of it. Miss a survey window and a certificate stops being valid on the spot. Fail a port State inspection and the ship stays alongside.

The numbers show how often this goes wrong. In 2025 the Tokyo MOU carried out 35,546 inspections and detained 1,255 ships (3.53%); the most frequent detainable deficiencies were fixed fire-extinguishing installations, ISM and lifeboats. The Paris MoU recorded 16,474 inspections and 688 detentions, a detention rate of 4.18%, up from 4.03% in 2024, with fire safety, structural and electrical items and seafarers’ health and medical care named as recurring problem areas (Tokyo MOU Annual Report 2025; Paris MoU Annual Report 2025, as summarised by IIMS).

This course explains the system from the inside: which survey is due when and why, who does what between flag, class and port State, how ISM, ISPS and MLC audits really work, what the IMO safety signs must look like, and how to prepare a ship so that a port State inspection ends with a clean report. Every rule is cited to the instrument in force on the date shown, including the 2025 Survey Guidelines under the HSSC, resolution A.1207(34), and the Procedures for Port State Control, 2025, resolution A.1206(34).

Written by Al Safwan Marine's service engineers from SOLAS, the IMO codes and circulars, and class and flag rules. The sources are listed at the end of every lesson.

Surveys, PSC and compliance

Flag, class and port state control

How surveys, class approval, flag rules and port state inspections shape lifeboat work on a managed fleet.

6 lessons1 h 30 minAdvanced

Surveys, PSC and compliance

Environmental compliance equipment

Oily water separators, bilge alarms, the Oil Record Book and ballast water systems, ready for inspection.

6 lessons1 h 29 minPractical

Lifeboats and liferafts

Lifeboat safety and the rules

Why lifeboats hurt people, which rules keep crews safe, and what to check, log and leave to specialists.

8 lessons1 h 30 minIntroductory

Ready? Lesson 1 takes 15 minutes.

Free during our launch period. On your phone or computer, no password.

Start course

Surveys, audits and PSC7 lessons