The dates had been known since the spring; the questionnaire has just been published. From 1 September to 30 November 2026, Paris MoU and Tokyo MoU inspectors will run a Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on cargo securing. Three months that map exactly onto the end of the Mediterranean season, the transatlantic crossings and the first Caribbean calls.
A yacht is not a container ship, and the letter of the campaign is not aimed at her. But between the eligibility of commercial yachts for port State control and the mechanism that turns a securing remark into an ISM deficiency, autumn 2026 deserves more than a shrug.
Ten questions, three months, one visit
The campaign is run jointly by the two main memoranda of understanding on port State control. Its official questionnaire, published in early August 2026, contains ten questions added to a routine PSC inspection — the campaign does not create an extra inspection, it enriches the existing one. Each ship is subject to a single CIC inspection over the period.
Seven of the ten questions may be grounds for detention; questions 1, 6 and 10a/10b should only result in non-detainable deficiencies. The topics run from the approved Cargo Securing Manual and its lashing instructions to crew familiarity, the condition and availability of securing equipment, verified gross mass of containers, the cargo safe access plan, bridge visibility, heavy weather procedures and the implementation of the safety management system.
Is a yacht in scope?
Two questions that should not be conflated.
The first is port State control itself. Commercial yachts — that is, yachts engaged in trade — are eligible for PSC and fall squarely within the Paris MoU provisions; pleasure yachts not engaged in trade remain outside it. It is the flag State that determines that status, and the Paris MoU guidance on the eligibility of yachts makes a point every master should keep in mind: a vessel shown as “pleasure” in the information systems may well be operating commercially on the day of the call. A yacht that alternates private use and charter must therefore be able to evidence her status at that moment.
The second is the campaign itself. A yacht carries no cargo in the SOLAS sense: most of the questionnaire will simply not apply, and there is neither an approved securing manual nor a verified gross mass to produce. What remains is the routine inspection — and a three-month window during which PSC teams will be especially active in southern European ports, precisely as the fleet leaves the Mediterranean.
The tipping point: ISM
This is where the subject stops being abstract. Analyses published by class societies all point to the same chain of events: several non-detainable deficiencies can turn into an ISM deficiency, and a systemic failure of the safety management system is itself grounds for detention.
On board a yacht, cargo goes by another name: the garage. Six to ten-tonne tenders on their cradles, jet skis, seabobs, dive cylinders and compressor, platforms, beach furniture — plus deck-stowed tenders, tackles and davits. None of it falls under an approved cargo securing manual. All of it falls under the SMS, under preparation for sea and under crew familiarisation. An inspector who finds a poorly lashed tender and a management system silent on the matter will not write a “cargo” deficiency: he or she will write an ISM deficiency, with the internal audit and the flag State close behind.
What is left to do before 1 September
- Clarify the vessel’s status: commercial or pleasure, with safety certificates, DOC and SMC valid and consistent with actual use.
- Write the securing procedure: who lashes what, with which equipment, before which departure, plus a preparation-for-sea checklist signed off by the head of department.
- Inventory the securing gear: straps, turnbuckles, chains, garage lashing points, davit hooks — with inspection dates and discarded items traced.
- Document crew familiarisation. On a yacht whose complement turns over heavily at the end of the season, that usually means starting again in September.
- Brief the master on the campaign: knowing what will be asked prevents improvisation at the passerelle.
- Check the two universal topics in the questionnaire: bridge visibility and heavy weather procedures apply to every ship, cargo or no cargo.
A concentrated campaign is only ever a revealer: it creates no new obligations, it exposes the gap between the written SMS and shipboard practice. For an owner, the course of action is sober — a properly secured tender, a procedure that exists, a crew able to explain it. Those who discover the subject on 1 September will discover it alongside, with the clock running.
Sources
- Paris MoU — Concentrated Inspection Campaign on Cargo Securing 2026
- DNV — Port State Control: CIC 2026 official questionnaire now published (4 August 2026)
- DNV — The 2026 PSC CIC on cargo securing: be prepared (29 July 2026)
- ABS — Tokyo and Paris MoU Joint CIC for 2026 on Cargo Securing
- Paris MoU — Guidance on eligibility of yachts to Port State Control