Ship management software: how to stay inspection-ready across every vessel
Paris MoU rates your whole fleet on 36 months of PSC results. See how ship management software keeps certificates, PMS, ISM and rest hours inspection-ready.
When a port state control (PSC) officer walks up the gangway, they are inspecting one ship. In the Paris MoU region, though, the result counts towards a rating for your whole company. That is the part many managers underestimate, and it is the strongest argument for running your fleet on proper ship management software rather than a set of spreadsheets, shared drives and email threads.
This guide explains how company performance works under the Paris MoU, which records inspectors and auditors actually look at, and what to look for in ship management software, from a single vessel to a whole fleet. WaterTightVM is built for fleets of any size, including classed vessels, whether you run a small fleet or a larger managed fleet.
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Why one ship’s inspection affects your whole fleet
Under the EU port state control regime that the Paris MoU applies, every ship is given a risk profile. According to EMSA’s THETIS guidance, that profile is built from the type and age of the ship, its flag, its recognised organisation, company performance, and its history of deficiencies and detentions (EMSA THETIS).
Company performance is the fleet-wide piece. It is calculated from the inspections, detentions and deficiencies recorded against every ship for which the same company holds ISM responsibility, over the previous 36 months. The company’s detention ratio and deficiency ratio are compared with the Paris MoU averages, and the result is a grade of high, medium, low or very low (EMSA THETIS; Paris MoU company performance).
Three details matter in particular:
- ISM deficiencies weigh more. Under the Paris MoU company performance rules, each ISM-related deficiency is weighted at 5 points in the deficiency index, against 1 point for other deficiencies (EMSA THETIS; Paris MoU Memorandum, Annex 7). A weak safety management system costs you five times over.
- A ban outweighs everything. If any ship in the fleet receives a refusal of access order in the previous 36 months, the company’s detention index is automatically “above average”, whatever the rest of its results look like (same sources).
- Fewer ships means less room. With only a handful of ships, one detention moves your ratio far more than it would for a manager with a hundred vessels.
Recent months show the pressure is real. The Paris MoU publishes its current detentions list openly (Paris MoU detentions), and it has recently refused a ship access to the region after the vessel failed to reach the repair yard named as a condition of its release. Outside Europe, Australia’s maritime regulator banned a bulk carrier for 90 days after finding work and rest records deliberately falsified, and cited concerns about the owner’s and operator’s safety management (AMSA media release).
What inspectors and auditors actually look for
Most findings don’t come from exotic failures. They come from records that are out of date, incomplete or impossible to find quickly. The International Safety Management (ISM) Code sets the standard for safe management and operation of ships, and has been mandatory under SOLAS chapter IX since 1998 (IMO, ISM Code). In practice, inspectors, flag auditors and charterer vetting teams keep returning to the same five areas.
1. Certificates, for the ship and the crew
Expired or missing certificates are among the simplest things for an inspector to check and the most avoidable to get wrong. You need statutory and class certificates per vessel, and crew certificates per seafarer, visible with expiry dates across the fleet.
2. Planned maintenance and defects
The ISM Code expects a company to maintain its ships and keep records of that maintenance. If your planned maintenance system (PMS) lives in the chief engineer’s spreadsheet, the office can’t see overdue jobs or open defects until someone asks.
3. Safety management records
Drills, risk assessments, incident reports, non-conformities and safety meetings are the day-to-day evidence that your safety management system works on board, not just on paper.
4. Hours of rest
STCW sets minimum rest hours for watchkeepers (IMO, STCW Convention). Rest records are checked routinely, and as the Australian case shows, records that look “tidied up” are treated as a safety management failure.
5. Document control and circulars
When a flag state or the MCA issues new guidance, you need to get it to vessels, brief crews and show that it happened. The MCA’s update to MGN 199 on hydrodynamic interaction in November 2026 is a good example of the kind of notice that needs distributing and evidencing (GOV.UK, MGN 199 (M) Amendment 1).
What ship management software should do for ship and shore
Many offices have a few people covering a lot of the work, so software has to save time rather than add another system to feed. WaterTightVM is built for fleets of any size, including classed vessels, from a single vessel to a whole fleet. The modules below are covered in more detail on the vessel management software page.
One view of every vessel from the office
The whole point is that shore staff can see what is outstanding without phoning the ship. WaterTightVM’s fleet dashboard is a multi-vessel view of compliance, manning and operational KPIs, shared with the same vessel record the crew use on board.
Certificate tracking with expiries you can’t miss
WaterTightVM keeps vessel and crew certificates, from a fixed list of types, in the vessel certificates register and in certificate compliance. Crew can upload a photo or PDF, and expiry alerts go to the certificate holder. The office can see what is expiring across the fleet on the web dashboard. Crew profiles, assignments and safe-manning positions sit together in crew management.
A PMS the office can actually see
The maintenance management module is on every plan and shows the PMS backlog and defects across every vessel. Defects and unplanned work, the equipment register and spare parts sit alongside it. LOLER lifting equipment is an optional module, included from the Advanced plan up.
ISM safety management in one place
The safety management module gives the DPA and HSEQ team the ISM safety status of every vessel: open incidents, drills and shore review queues. Related modules cover drills and exercises, risk assessments, incident reporting, and SMS documents with read-and-acknowledge on all plans. Fleet notices can be used to push circulars and guidance out to the fleet. Crew confirm they’ve read notices in the app; the office sees, by name, who still hasn’t. The Safety hub also shows a “% crew up to date” card.
Hours of rest records crew confirm themselves
In WaterTightVM’s work and rest hours module, crew record and confirm their own hours. The engine checks them against STCW A-VIII/1 and raises in-app breach flags, and the office can export a non-compliance PDF. Edits need a reason. Work and rest hours is available on Starter plans and above. See also our hours of rest software guide.
Inspection readiness without the scramble
Preparing for a PSC, flag or class inspection usually means exporting from several systems into a folder by hand. Inspection readiness is a web-only add-on. It brings together live KPIs, evidence gaps and one-click evidence packs for PSC, ISM and MARPOL inspections, plus guided checklists a person signs off. It does not produce a score, it is not a mobile tool, and it does not guarantee or certify compliance.
Works where the vessel works
Software only helps if the crew use it. The WaterTightVM mobile crew app is how crew record hours, maintenance and documents on board. It is available as an iOS TestFlight beta (invite via hello@watertight.app). Android isn’t available yet.
The crew app works where the vessel works. Best online, keeps working offline, syncs when back in range. With offline sync, crew prepare in port, then work offline: hours of rest, PMS sign-offs and checklists, safety rounds, drills and more queue on the phone and sync when you’re back online. Sync happens on reconnect while the app is open. Certificate uploads and notice or SMS document acknowledgements need a connection.
Everything else that runs a ship
Beyond compliance, WaterTightVM covers procurement, HR, leave and performance, ship-shore messaging and statutory record books. The full module list is on the platform page.
A pre-PSC checklist you can run from the office
Before any port call where an inspection is likely, a manager using ship management software should be able to answer these questions in minutes, not days:
- Are any vessel certificates or surveys due in the next 90 days?
- Does every crew member on board hold valid certificates for their position, and is safe manning met?
- Are there overdue planned maintenance jobs or open defects, especially on safety-critical equipment?
- Are drills up to date, and are there open incidents or non-conformities waiting for shore review?
- Do the hours of rest records show any STCW breach flags that haven’t been dealt with?
- Have the latest circulars and MGNs reached the vessel?
- Were deficiencies from the last inspection closed with evidence?
If answering any of those means phoning the master or searching an inbox, that is where your next deficiency is likely to come from. For a wider view of moving off spreadsheets, see our vessel management software buying guide and how to reduce audit findings.
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Ship management software vs vessel management software: is there a difference?
Not much, in practice. “Ship management software” tends to be used by deep-sea managers and “vessel management software” by operators of workboats, ferries and offshore support craft, but both describe the same job: keeping technical, crew and safety records for a fleet in one system shared between ship and shore. WaterTightVM is built for both, and for fleets of any size, including classed vessels, from a single vessel to a whole fleet. If you run UK workboats, our article on fleet management software for workboats covers Workboat Code Edition 3.
Built by a Master Mariner
WaterTightVM was built by a UK Master Mariner. It is designed around the records that come up at every PSC inspection, ISM audit and charterer vetting, not around a generic asset-management tool adapted for ships.
Book a 30-minute call to look at certificates, PMS, ISM records and rest hours in one view, using a sample vessel, or See the platform to explore every module.
Any questions, just get in touch. If you’re not sure we cover something you need, outline the issue and we’ll find a way to solve it.
Sources
- EMSA THETIS, company performance legal information
- Paris MoU, company performance
- Paris MoU Memorandum, Annex 7 (including the 46th Amendment)
- Paris MoU, current detentions
- IMO, ISM Code
- IMO, STCW Convention
- AMSA media release, 3 November 2026
- GOV.UK, MGN 199 (M) Amendment 1