There are FOCs near the top of White List in MoUs and then there are the one’s at the bottom of just about any list (except cheap).
Now there will be a crackdown in the Med:
Here are some in the last category:
https://www.maritimecookislands.com/
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Some of these registries use their ROs as agents who steer the owners to the flag. Personally this reeks of a potential conflict of interest and combined with an Administration that is not interested in actively engaging in oversight it is a situation where one can easily see why they are on the various black lists.
I do not think that someone is steering owners to these flags.
Owners who cannot register ships in serious flag states, for whatever reason, search these flags.
The latest Paris MoU lists:
The latest Tokyo MoU lists:
USCG Qualship 21 Initiativ:
https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/Assistant-Commandant-for-Prevention-Policy-CG-5P/Inspections-Compliance-CG-5PC-/Commercial-Vessel-Compliance/Foreign-Offshore-Compliance-Division/Port-State-Control/QS21/
USCG Targeted Flag States:
https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/Assistant-Commandant-for-Prevention-Policy-CG-5P/Inspections-Compliance-CG-5PC-/Commercial-Vessel-Compliance/Foreign-Offshore-Compliance-Division/Port-State-Control/targetedflags/
I know an owner personally who changed the flag of his vessels from Panama to one of the ones listed in the headline. He told me that is exactly what happened. His class society pushed a particular flag and eventually sold him on it.
Did he say which Classification Society that may be? There are a lot to choose from if you look at the lower rung of the ranking:
There are some “fly-by-night” operations that aren’t even listed here.
Maybe adding Cameroon to the list of really bad FOCs?:
I would trust @BrownWaterGuy, he knows the Flag game. I have seen many RO’s (usually non-IACS) as well as Legal Firms and 3rd party advisors push clients to certain Flags, because they also get a finders fee (% of tonnage tax) for that intro and registration.
It was not one on that list although maybe included in “other”.
It was one which a PSC inspector told me they were not allowed to write deficiencies to be rectified by that class society because they had zero trust in them.
That is actually a fairly short list I believe of class societies/ROs.
Latest position according to Marine Traffic:
This is just one of many oldish tankers in the "dark fleet:
Where does the STS operations between “dark fleet” tankers take place?:
She is moving again:
PS> When inspecting old ships, seeing two black balls ready to hoist laying on monkey island, is a sure sign of engine problems.
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quote: Israeli maritime artificial intelligence firm end quote
I am wondering if Israeli artificial inteligence was also tracking Hamas movements and preps for attack ?
If so, we can argue , that artificial intelligence will not free humanity from errors. Just saying
More business for tankers in the Dark Fleet and the shadowy owners and managers that operate them?:
PS> Not all are registered by “really bad FOCs”.
Yes there are ships registered with home port Ulaanbaatar and flying the flag of Mongolia.
The registry is managed from Singapore, however:
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so it looks like they followed in the steps of 2 other flags , namely Marshal Islands and Liberia aping the idea of domiciling/ setting legal residence of this business in a country of good maritime reputation. Smart move.
Quite interesting clip coming from Dr.Sal on the issue.
(141) Shifty Shades of Grey | G7 Crackdown On The Dark Fleet | The Dark Fleet - YouTube
Another Ship Register that is managed from Singapore:
PS> Don’t know much about this register, nor the management company.