Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries Streamlines Safety Inspections for Small Vessels to Ease Burden on Small Businesses

Owners of vessels under 10 tons will now be able to undergo vessel inspections without having to detach their propeller shafts.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced today (August 24) that it has revised the Enforcement Rule of the Ship Safety Act to reduce the inspection burden on owners of vessels under 10 tons and outboard-engine vessels (propulsion devices attached or detached outside the hull).

This measure follows criticism that the requirement to detach the propeller shaft connected to the ship's engine during safety inspections incurs significant time and costs.

Typically, inspecting a 10-ton class vessel by detaching the propeller shaft takes 3 to 5 days, and costs between 2 million and 3 million won for the disassembly, extraction, reassembly, and non-destructive testing of the propeller shaft.

This poses a substantial burden for small business owners who operate small vessels.

Accordingly, the Ministry revised the enforcement rule so that for vessels under 10 tons, if the wear condition of the bearing surrounding the propeller shaft is satisfactory, the inspection can be completed through visual confirmation without shaft separation.

For outboard-engine vessels, if the operating condition of the outboard engine is satisfactory, exemptions can be granted from inspections such as propeller shaft extraction.

This revision is estimated to benefit approximately 670 vessels under 10 tons and about 780 outboard-engine vessels.

In addition, the Ministry expanded the qualifications for hazardous material inspectors—who examine hazardous goods loaded onto ships—to include holders of industrial engineer certifications in hazardous materials or higher.

This step addresses difficulties in manpower supply, as previous regulations only allowed holders of industrial engineer certifications in chemical engineering to qualify as hazardous material inspectors.

Jeong Dohyeon, Director General for Maritime Safety Policy at the Ministry, stated, "We expect this revision to significantly ease the operational burdens of micro-enterprises engaged in livelihoods in the shipping and port sectors," adding, "We will continue to devise reasonable regulatory relaxation measures while placing safety as the top priority."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.