Institute of Transportation, MOTC

　　To prevent marine accidents caused by sub-standard vessels and to protect the marine environment, port states are obliged to inspect foreign vessels alertly for implementing the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Conventions. The system of port state control (PSC) has been established. Taiwan is located in the axis of international shipping routes. However, its history of enforcing a PSC system is short, and the period of PSC inspection data is not long enough. Also, the data themselves are intermittent. Under such circumstances, this paper adopts a grey relation analysis method to analyze the current challenges of Taiwan’s implementation of port state control. It finds that the major inspection items of the PSC system in Taiwan conform to international practices as a whole, while the choice of vessels for inspection in Taiwan’s various international ports appears quite different. This research also interviews certain experts and scholars in order to provide conclusions for practical reference. It explores seven challenges of carrying out a PSC system in Taiwan, as well as seven responding improvement measures in the future to upgrade the international status and effectiveness of Taiwan’s implementation of the PSC system.