Pleasant to announced that Gousea recently enrolled to the USCG Qual 21 ships. The enrolled fleet of Empire Navigation are 5/6 vessels.

Additionally to the above ION-M (9864344) except the enrollment to Q21, she is the only fleet vessel as USCG E-ZERO.

As per USCG Letter :

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Meeting the stringent requirements of these programs is difficult and I applaud the efforts of your

organization and the shipboard personnel for consistently maintaining an exceptional commitment

to quality!

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DPA Empire Navigation Inc.

We provide actionable PSC intelligence to shed light on Port State Control (PSC) performance and support the path toward safer and more competitive shipping.

To deliver real-world insights, we are launching the Top 40 Most Challenging Ports rankings for one key segments:  Tankers Vessels. This initiative aims to offer a clearer understanding of PSC performance at the port level.

DPA- CSO

EMPIRE NAVIGATION Inc.

Source Risk4SEA

This year’s Port State Control Concentrated Inspection Campaign (PSC CIC), taking place from 1 September to 30 November 2025, will focus on ballast water management.

Ballast Water Management System (BWMS):

• Failure to inform PSC about BWMS malfunction
• Failure to record BWMS issues in the ballast water record book
• The BWMS, or parts of it, is out of order
• Contingency measures in the event of BWMS malfunction/ failure are not followed=

Ballast water management plan:

• Inconsistent, missing or outdated information about theBWM method, port of registry, designated person, etc.

Ballast water record book:

• Electronic record book used on board, but no flag approval letter is on board
• Incorrect or missing entries in the ballast water record book
• Mismatch between entries in the ballast water record book and observed ballast operations
• Mismatch between entries in the ballast water record book and the Ballast Water Management System (BWMS) log entries
• Old version of the ballast water record book is still in use

Masters and crew should be informed about the planned CIC and its focus.

According to IMB’s “Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships for the Period 1 January – 30 June 2025” report, globally, the crime of piracy and armed robbery reached 90 reported incidents, a 50% increase compared to the same period in 2024 and the highest number of reported incidents for the same period since 2020. 

Of the incidents reported, 79 vessels were boarded, six attempted attacks, four hijackings and one vessel fired upon. Concern for crew wellbeing continues with 40 crew taken hostage, 16 kidnapped, five threatened and three each assaulted and injured.