Darren Ryan, RightShip COO, shares an update on RightShip Dry Inspections and the transition to raise safety standards

We purposefully shared RISQ openly with industry last year. By sharing the document early, we gave time for stakeholders to familiarise themselves, ask questions, and to use it as a reference to identify improvement opportunities across their fleets. During this time, we built our digital training module for inspectors and the inspection application, along with integration into the RightShip Platform. That work has now been done, including completion of Inspector training.

Inspections based on the RISQ are now operational, and are applicable for bulk carriers, general cargo, container, and roll-on/roll-off ships. The RISQ provides the most comprehensive and consolidated inspection reference standard for dry bulk shipping. And through the guidance provided, there is support for stakeholders in their assessments to elevate standards onboard their fleet. Specifically for managers, this means there is a strong reference guide to bolster improvement and strengthen preventative controls to mitigate the risk of incidents.

The outcome of a RightShip dry inspection will reflect the actual condition and standard of operation of the vessel at the time of inspection. Such inspections, along with the vetting process, allow for assessment of risk, controls, and provision of due diligence to assist our clients and stakeholders, including charterers, ports, and terminal operators. 

We are really pleased there has been such a positive reaction to the new questionnaire so far, with some proactive ship managers already completing gap assessments between their current SMS, onboard practices and RISQ to action improvement across their fleets. Our strong recommendation for managers is to maintain familiarity with RISQ, assess opportunities to improve performance, and when an inspection is approaching its due date, engage RightShip to plan for this.

Our RISQ has been revised and updated in response to industry comments and in accordance with the most recent industry recommendations and regulations.

The RISQ will be implemented for inspections after September 30, 2022 and the latest RISQ 3.2 can be downloaded here.

Please refer to Annex B of the document as this outlines the specific revisions made.

If you have any questions concerning RISQ 2.0, please email us at risq@rightship.com.