Defect Tracking

Every defect, one view.

“How many open defects do we have?” is the wrong question. The right one is: “how many of them have been open longer than they should be, and how many of those are on the same equipment?”

PSC / SIRE / CDIConditions of Classage scoringequipment clustersclosure rate

Nineteen sources, one ranked list

A vessel collects defects from twenty different angles. The work isn’t tracking the count — it’s separating the ones that need a Technical Superintendent’s attention from the ones that are just paperwork.

The pipeline pulls every defect source into one place, scores age and severity, clusters by equipment family, and tracks closure-rate trends. The output is a single ranked list — the items most likely to bite, sorted worst-first — alongside the systemic patterns that explain why this vessel keeps generating the same kind of defect.

Sources

All 19 defect surfaces

Source	Origin	Typical severity vocabulary
PSC	Port State Control inspection	Major / Detainable / Minor
SIRE	OCIMF tanker vetting	Observation severity 1–4
CDI	Chemical Distribution Institute	Chemical-tanker observations
Class CoC	Class society Condition of Class	CoC / Memoranda / Notes / Recommendation
Flag state	Flag administration inspection	Deficiency / Detention
Internal audits	SMS internal audit	Major / Minor non-conformity
Navigational audits	Navigation team	Bridge / cargo / safety findings
Charterer / Owner / Terminal	Inspections	Per-inspector grading
HMX	Hull & Machinery underwriter survey	Critical / High / Medium / Low
SCMM	Ship-class machinery monitoring	Equipment-driven
VIR (current & previous)	Vessel inspection report	Open / Closed / Pending
ADI	Accidents, damages, injuries	Incident-driven
Near-miss	Safety reports from crew	Behavioural / equipment
External audits	Third-party audits	Per-auditor grading

PSC data comes from all major MoU regimes: Paris, Tokyo, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Caribbean, Black Sea, Abuja, USCG, and Riyadh. Class data from ABS, BV, DNV, LR, NK, CCS, KR, IRS, and RINA.

Once flattened, every defect in the fleet has the same shape: vessel, source, severity, status, dates. All downstream analysis operates on that shape — there is no per-source logic.

How findings are ranked

Three independent dimensions combine into a single rank.

Severity:

Severity	Examples
CRITICAL	PSC detainable, open CoC near deadline, ADI casualty, HMX critical
MAJOR	PSC major, internal audit major NC, SIRE 1–2, HMX high
MINOR	PSC minor, SIRE 3–4, near-miss, charterer suggestion

Age tier:

Tier	Window
Recent	≤ 30 days
Active	30–90 days
Overdue	90–180 days
Chronic	> 180 days

A spike of CRITICAL items in the Chronic tier is the single largest escalation trigger — items that old typically reflect a closure-process gap, not an isolated incident.

Equipment-family clustering:

Cluster signal(f) = Systemic   if N_open(f) ≥ 3
                  = Isolated   otherwise

Three or more defects on the same equipment family (engine, cargo system, navigation, accommodation, hull, safety, environmental) flips the verdict from “isolated incidents” to “systemic issue.”

Closure-rate health

Closure rate = defects closed in period / (open at start + opened in period)

Two patterns matter:

• Falling closure rate + rising open count — operational drift. The team is opening defects faster than it is closing them.
• Stable closure rate + rising open count — capacity problem. New defects are arriving faster than expected, often after crew change or a heavy port-call window.

The pipeline reports closure rate alongside the absolute open count so the reviewer sees direction and magnitude together.

Worked sweep — MV POSUN

Metric	Value
Open defects	87
New this period	11
Closed this period	6
Closure rate	0.063 (down from 0.18 last period)
CRITICAL open	4
CRITICAL in Chronic tier (> 180d)	2

Equipment clusters:

Family	Open count	Signal
Cargo system	6	Systemic
Engine	3	Systemic (just crossed threshold)
Accommodation	5	Systemic
Safety	2	Isolated
Other	71	—

Stuck defects:

Blocker	Count
Awaiting parts	14
Awaiting port	8
Awaiting vendor	5
Awaiting class approval	2

Verdict: HIGH. Two CRITICAL findings open more than 6 months, falling closure rate, three systemic clusters. The pipeline:

1. Tags escalation_required: true, priority CRITICAL.
2. Routes to TSI with a one-page brief: top 10 ranked defects, three systemic clusters, and the unblock list of 14 parts orders to chase.
3. Generates recommendations focused on systemic patterns — closing the cargo-system cluster is more valuable than closing five random defects.

Under the hood

Flatten logic — normalising 19 sources into one shape

def flatten_json(imo, nested_data):
    """Flatten nested defect summary into per-status records."""
    records = []
    for key, values in nested_data.items():
        question      = values.get("questionName")
        updated_at    = values.get("updatedAt")
        status_counts = values.get("value", {}).get("status_counts", {})
        additional    = values.get("value", {})

        # Per-source breakdown (Class, Shippalm, …)
        for source_key, source_value in additional.items():
            if isinstance(source_value, dict) and "status_counts" in source_value:
                for status, count in source_value["status_counts"].items():
                    records.append({"imo": imo, "questionName": question,
                                    "source": source_key, "status": status,
                                    "count": count, "updatedAt": updated_at})

        # Roll-up at the main level
        if status_counts:
            for status, count in status_counts.items():
                records.append({"imo": imo, "questionName": question,
                                "source": "Main", "status": status,
                                "count": count, "updatedAt": updated_at})
    return records

Stuck defects — blocker classification

A defect stuck longer than expected is more useful when grouped by why it’s stuck. The pipeline classifies blockers:

Blocker	Typical resolution
Awaiting parts	Procurement chase, ETA confirmation
Awaiting port	Schedule into next port call
Awaiting vendor	Contract escalation
Awaiting class approval	Class follow-up
Awaiting investigation	Internal investigation completion
Other / unclassified	Manual triage

Most stuck defects are unblocked by a single email or phone call — it’s the highest-leverage list a TSI can act on.

Escalation triggers

Trigger	Severity
Any CRITICAL defect open more than 30 days	CRITICAL
Any safety-equipment defect open at all	CRITICAL
Closure rate falling for 2+ consecutive periods	HIGH
Equipment cluster (3+ defects same family)	HIGH
Class CoC unresolved past deadline	CRITICAL
Three or more PSC detainables on one inspection	CRITICAL

A note on data hygiene

A surprising amount of defect-management work is data hygiene — duplicate findings filed against multiple sources, near-misses miscategorised as ADI, equipment family left blank. The pipeline surfaces these issues but does not silently fix them; a TSI should know when their fleet’s defect taxonomy is drifting.

The cleanest signal

The cleanest signal of fleet-wide defect-management health is whether the closure rate is steady. A vessel can carry many open defects and still be healthy if the closure rate is steady and clusters are isolated. A vessel can carry few open defects and be unhealthy if the closure rate is collapsing.

Read next

Planned Maintenance Many defects are open because their planned-maintenance window hasn't come up yet.

Certificates & Class Open Conditions of Class are tracked there for the regulatory deadline; defects for the operational impact.

PSC & Compliance Risk PSC, SIRE, and CDI findings carry detention-risk weight in the compliance pipeline.

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