MANY of the largest flag states continue to perform to a high standard, according to the International Chamber of Shipping’s latest Flag State Performance Table.
In addition to the largest flag states – Marshall Islands, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Bahamas and Cyprus – traditional flags and open registers have performed well.
ICS secretary general Guy Platten said the table clearly indicates that distinctions between traditional flags and open registers are no longer meaningful.
“Alongside several European registers, and flags such as Japan, we have seen many open registers amongst the very top performers,” Mr Platten said.
“There is still a number of smaller flag states that have a lot of work to do to considerably enhance their performance, and shipowners should consider very carefully the prospect of using these flags, which may be perceived to be sub-standard.”
Among the 10 largest ship registers (by dead weight tonnage), covering more than 70% of the world fleet, none have more than two indicators of potentially negative performance, and five have no negative indicators at all.
The ICS Flag State Performance Table provides an indicator of the performance of individual flag states worldwide.
It analyses how the countries included deliver against criteria such as port state control records, ratification of international maritime conventions and attendance at IMO meetings.
Due to the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 outbreak, the previous period’s Flag State Performance Table (2019/2020) was not published.
To maintain a complete and accurate record of port state control performance of flag states in 2019, ICS has published the relevant PSC data on the last page of the report, corresponding to information released in 2019 by the Paris MOU, the Tokyo MOU and the United States Coast Guard in their respective annual PSC reports.
