In the 10 months to October 1999 only 24 tankers belonging to INTERTANKO members were detained, out of the total of 2,370 ships held back by the US Coast Guard and member states participating in the Paris and Tokyo Memorandums of Understanding until deficiencies could be rectified. Including non-INTERTANKO vessels, a total of 166 tankers, or 7.00 per cent of all ships, were detained.

The very low percentage of the total number of ship detentions bears testimony to the commitment by INTERTANKO members to high standards of ship operation, maintenance and management. The Association welcomes the key role of port state control (PSC) inspectors worldwide in identifying poorly maintained and operated ships and in helping to remove from the oceans those ships which consistently fail to measure up to the minimum standard. For port state control to have optimum effect, it is important that inspections are carried out to a common, high standard. In this respect INTERTANKO members file reports on PSC inspections of their ships to highlight anomalies in inspection standards.

The INTERTANKO membership includes, as Full Members, 270 tanker companies in 46 countries worldwide. The membership fleet now stands at 2,073 tankers with a total tonnage of 176 million tons deadweight, equivalent to 75 per cent of all independently owned tanker tonnage worldwide. In addition, there are 299 INTERTANKO Associate Member companies in 50 countries worldwide.