Panama Maritime Authority issued a Merchant Marine Notice to inform all those vessels of Panamanian Registry that deliberately turning off the Long Range Identification and Tracking Equipment (LRIT) or the Automatic Identification System (AIS) will be issued with sanctions.
The Merchant Marine Notice will be implemented to the vessels that have been detained in jurisdictional waters of the Republic of Panama, and make any movements without prior authorization from the General Directorate of Merchant Marine and / or deactivate the LRIT System or the AIS Equipment.
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This sanction is established in the Resolution No 106-048-DGMM of the 19th of August of 2019.
Recently, Gard’s Mrs. Irene Anastassiou reported that turning off the AIS to avoid detection is a breach of SOLAS and Flag State requirements, while it increases the risk of maritime casualties and loss of life.
Following Panama’s footsteps, Indonesia issued a new regulation according to which all Indonesian and foreign-flagged ships sailing in Indonesian waters install and activate Automatic Identification System (AIS).
