Tag: Flag States

A new regulatory amendment will allow bareboat registration in and deregistration from the Norwegian International Ship Register (NIS) and the Norwegian Ordinary Ship Register (NOR), making ship registration in Norway "more adaptive and internationally competitive".

USCG issued its 2019 Flag State Control Domestic Annual Report, summarizing statistics regarding inspections and enforcement of regulations on US-flagged vessels. The number of vessel inspections increased by 1,423 and the average number of deficiencies identified per inspection increased from 1.26 to 1.48 in 2019.

In its annual PSC report, Tokyo MoU presented the flag states included in the White, Grey and Black list respectively. The list indicates levels of performance of flags over a three-year rolling period (2017-2019). 

The Liberian Registry announced implementation of the first ever remote Annual Safety Inspection (ASI) aboard their ships, in a bid to adjust to the COVID-19 disruptions. The Registry successfully completed the first remote ASI this past week.

The ITF urged flag states to take responsibility and account for the health and wellbeing of all crew and passengers onboard their vessels, amid the humanitarian crisis brought by COVID-19 pandemic. 

During its 31st session on 25 November to 4 December 2019, the IMO Assembly adopted, among others, a resolution addressing fraudulent ship registration. The IMO recently put under the microscope over 300 ships involved in fraudulent vessel registrations. 

The IMO has recently put under the microscope over 300 ships involved in fraudulent vessel registrations operating without the knowledge of governments they claim to represent, according to data provided by the Standard P&I Club.

Amid an ongoing diplomatic tension globally, Panama said it will withdraw its flag from vessels that violate sanctions and international legislation, the Panama Maritime Authority told Reuters. This comes following removal of about 60 ships linked to Iran and Syria from the Panamanian registry in recent months. 

As Reuters reports, many are the shipping companies leaving Britain's shipping registry in light of the uncertain feeling of Britain's departure from the European Union and future commercial relations. The departures could also disrupt any plans the British Government has to secure additional space on ships to help cope with potential trade disruption, under the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

The Paris MoU Committee approved the 2018 inspection results and adopted new performance lists for flags and Recognized Organizations. These lists will apply from 1 July 2019. The list is based on the total number of inspections and detentions over a 3-year rolling period for flags with at least 30 inspections in that period.