ABSTRACT: The importance of safety on ships is beyond dispute, however, there are some types of ship for which this matter deserves special consideration. One of these types of ships are passenger cruises, due to the high number of human lives that travel on board. For this reason, we believe that a particular study of safety in cruise ships is needed. The Port State Control (PSC) mechanism of coastal States to try to ensure security in their territorial waters in respect of the traffic of foreign ships may, a priori, be an impartial and reliable indicator of security, according to the deficiencies it detect in ships and the detentions that carried out. Thus, we will use the PSC inspections in this paper. The source of information about PSC inspections is EQUASIS, which is the information system of the majority of regional agreements PSC and US Coast Guard. The study period is 5 years (2012-2016) and the cruise ships analysed are belonging to the International Association of Cruise Lines (CLIA). The objective of this work is an initial approach to safety on cruise ships and the structure of the sector according several factors (company, cruise type, age and pavilion).

KEYWORDS: Safety at Sea, Port State Control (PSC), PSC Inspection, International Association of Cruise Lines (CLIA), EQUASIS, US Coast Guard, Cruise Ships, Passanger Cruises

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