Port State Control detention in Türkiye: the objection route

A Port State Control detention in a Turkish port is lifted by clearing the deficiencies, not by paying or securing anything; the objection is a separate track that protects the vessel's record. This guide takes the two tracks in the order they run, under the Port State Control Implementing Regulation of 20 September 2025.

What a detention is

detention · stoppage of operationPort State Control Regulation, art. 4

A detention is the prohibition on sailing imposed where deficiencies found at inspection, alone or together, make the vessel unseaworthy; a stoppage of operation is the narrower prohibition on continuing a particular activity until its deficiencies are cleared.

• Who and on what criteria. Imposed by a port state control officer of the Ministry, on the criteria in the IMO procedures and the Mediterranean and Black Sea Memoranda (Port State Control Regulation, arts 3, 19).
• The report. In English, countersigned by the master and a copy given to him (arts 7, 18); the officer must cite the rule for each deficiency and photograph those that ground the detention (art. 19).
• Notice. The flag state and the recognised organisation are notified in writing by the harbour master (art. 19).

Track one: clearing the vessel

1. Read the report against the rules. Each deficiency carries a rule reference. The class surveyor and the flag are involved from the first day; class confirmation of a rectified item is what the officer will want to see.
2. Rectify in port where possible. The detention is lifted when the deficiencies are rectified or the officer is satisfied that the vessel can sail on conditions without risk to those on board, other vessels or the marine environment (Port State Control Regulation, art. 19).
3. Or sail to a repair yard. Where rectification in port is not possible, the officer may allow the vessel to proceed to the nearest suitable yard chosen by the master and approved by the harbour master, on conditions set by the flag state and accepted by the officer (Port State Control Regulation, art. 21). Sailing without complying with those conditions, or not presenting at the yard, brings a six-month ban from Turkish ports (Port State Control Regulation, arts 17, 21).
4. Pay the attendance fees. Second and later attendances are charged — 18,000 lira for the second, doubling thereafter, revalued yearly — and the detention continues until they are paid in full (Port State Control Regulation, art. 24).

Track two: the objection

The owner, the operator or the flag state may object to the detention; the agent may not. The objection goes to the Administration within one month of the date of detention and does not suspend the detention (Port State Control Regulation, art. 20).

It is worth making where the deficiency did not exist, was not a detainable item, or had been rectified before the detention was recorded, because a detention that stands counts (Port State Control Regulation, art. 17):

Where the vessel was detained or delayed unnecessarily, the owner or operator may go to court, bearing the burden of proving that the detention or delay was unnecessary (Port State Control Regulation, art. 20).

What to keep

• the report and the photographs;
• the statutory certificates and the class record as they stood on the day;
• the service and repair reports, and the class confirmation of rectification;
• the correspondence with the harbour master's office.

The objection and any later court action stand or fall on that file.

Updates to this guide