Analysis of deck deficiencies of Turkish and foreign flagged ships within the scope of the Black Sea memorandum of understanding

Sea transportation is a type of transportation that is used most widely in international transportation and has some risks of its own. Approximately 90% of the goods transported in world trade are transported by sea. Port State Control is one of the control mechanisms established for the safety of life at sea, the prevention of pollution from ships, the implementation of stricter rules regarding the improvement of living and working conditions on board, and the prevention of transportation with sub-standard ships that do not comply with international maritime regulations. As a result of the research, the meaningful relationship between inspection countries, ships flags, types, gross tonnages, ages, classification societies and deck department deficiencies related with detained vessels as a result of port state control inspections in scope of Black Sea Memorandum, which Turkey is included has been identified. Based on the data obtained from the official website of the Black Sea MOU, it was determined that 558 ships were detained due to the lack of decks among 15393 inspections between 2016 and 2018, and a total of 1854 deck remarks were written on these ships. IBM SPSS Statistics 23 program was used to evaluate the data. The results of the research are thought to be a guide for seafarers, port and flag state inspectors and ship owners in terms of preventing sea accidents and seizure of ships.