Palau International Ship Registry (PISR) has issued a statement in response to ITF’s claims that were published last week and placed Palau’s registry flag amongst the four worst in the world.
A stated by the PISR, ITF falsely and unreservedly targeted the Republic of Palau and its Ship Registry as one of the four worst flags. The statistical evidence presented by ITF to justify its unwarranted attack on PISR is wholly inaccurate, misinterpreted and therefore clearly misleading. The negative picture presented of PISR is misguided, as any objective observer with maritime knowledge will understand.
PISR presented the following points to back its claim:
• PISR applies a strict vetting process for vessel acceptance which has been audited by international bodies, including the IMO during IMSAS audit, which includes looking into the vessel’s age, ownership and past performance history.
• PISR has taken immediate action to address all cases brought to the Flag administration to benefit seafarers’ rights under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 (as amended).
• As recorded in the International Labour Organization’s official abandonment database, PISR swiftly addressed and officially resolved all abandonment issues.
• No other flag state has improved its standing within the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris MoU) in the last five years. PISR only had 9 detentions out of 162 inspections as per the last published Paris MoU report.
• PISR for consecutive years has been in the top third tier of the Grey List in both Paris MoU and Tokyo MoU.
• In the past three years, only two vessels registered to PISR were sent for demolition from the Mediterranean. Neither of these vessels recorded unsafe shipping issues or abandonment cases. PISR operates under the highest regulatory, professional and ethical standards and calls into question the rationale behind this campaign towards them.
