The Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration’s Ship Safety Inspection Task Force has officially commenced operations.

To continuously optimize the supervision model for water traffic safety, address the bottlenecks of traditional localized and fragmented supervision, and comprehensively enhance the professionalism, standardization, and precision of ship safety inspections, on August 18, the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration officially launched the Ship Safety Inspection Task Force model. Two task forces for the northern and southern regions were established, and a special mobilization meeting was held, marking a new phase in Tianjin's maritime ship safety supervision efforts.

As the first maritime institution in the country to conduct Port State Control (PSC) inspections and take on pilot tasks for ship safety inspections, the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration has been deeply engaged in ship safety supervision for over 40 years. From pioneering PSC inspections of ocean-going vessels in 1984 to establishing a dedicated safety inspection team in 2006, it has always been at the forefront of maritime regulatory reform in the country, accumulating extensive regulatory experience and solid professional expertise. The formation of the northern and southern ship safety inspection task forces is a key initiative by the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration to meet the needs of building the core area of northern international shipping, implement maritime regulatory reform, and empower high-quality port development.

This reform breaks away from the traditional supervision model of "territorial division and fragmented operations" and innovatively establishes a new working mechanism of "overall coordination, regional division between north and south, concentrated efforts, and professional performance of duties." It shifts from decentralized inspections to intensive supervision, creating a unified regulatory framework. By integrating the administration's top safety inspection personnel and forming specialized task forces, it achieves coordinated allocation of enforcement resources, standardized inspection criteria, and comprehensive risk prevention coverage. This effectively resolves issues such as inconsistent inspection standards, dispersed resources, and redundant inspections, maximizing the utilization of regulatory resources, enhancing enforcement efficiency, and reducing compliance burdens for enterprises. Additionally, leveraging smart maritime systems, VTS, AIS, and other information technologies, the reform deepens technology-enabled supervision. Through big data analysis of frequent ship defects and common risks, it establishes a risk warning mechanism, focusing on precise supervision of aging ships, accident-prone vessels, and key voyages, thereby fortifying the safety defenses of water traffic in all aspects.

At the mobilization meeting, the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration emphasized adhering to the principle of "safety first, prevention-oriented, and comprehensive governance," strictly standardizing enforcement procedures, implementing a closed-loop management system, and upholding the bottom line of clean and honest enforcement. The administration will continue to forge a professional and disciplined safety inspection team, deepen departmental collaboration, establish a vertically integrated and efficiently coordinated regulatory framework, strictly control safety risks, continuously standardize enforcement behavior, and optimize the operating environment for shipping companies.

Next, the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration will take the operation of the ship safety inspection task forces as an opportunity to further deepen the reform of the ship safety supervision mechanism, continuously enhance the intrinsic safety level of ships, and make every effort to prevent and mitigate water traffic safety risks. This will provide a solid water safety guarantee for the construction of a world-class Tianjin Port and the high-quality development of the northern international shipping core area.