By Jonathan Saul and Polina Devitt LONDON/MOSCOW, July 12 (Reuters) - At least two countries have struck cargo vessels off their registries in recent weeks after the ships were involved in transporting grains from Crimea to Syria, maritime officials told Reuters. Crimea has been under Western sanctions since it was annexed from Ukraine by Russia in 2014 and has been frozen … [Read more...]
Paris MoU’s White, Grey and Black List 2014 – Ranking the World’s Flag States from Best to Worst
The Paris MoU on Port State Control has published its updated “White, Grey and Black (WGB) List” for 2014, ranking flag states from quality flags to flags with a poor performance record that are considered high or very high risk. 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 … [Read more...]
Iranian Tankers are Flying Tanzania-Zanzibar Flag, Officials Report “This Must be a Mistake”
(Bloomberg) -- Iranian oil tankers are mistakenly signaling their flag state as Tanzania-Zanzibar and no such registration took place, according to a government official from the east African nation. The 14 ships, previously registered in the Pacific island of Tuvalu, transmitted data from Sept. 24 to Oct. 13 to show they changed their names and were flying the … [Read more...]
Flag States Rally To Support Seafarers Abused By Pirates
Flag states rally to support seafarers abused by pirates by Will Watson [dropcap]W[/dropcap]hile it is anecdotally known that seafarers are suffering brutal abuse at the hands of pirates operating in the Indian Ocean, Gulf of Guinea and other areas, there has been no central repository for information relating to this pattern of brutality… until now. Last year, the … [Read more...]
POLL: Flag State Changes to Dynamically Positioned Drilling Vessels…
As of recently, deepwater self-propelled drilling vessels were considered "MODUs", or mobile offshore drilling units. Recent changes to flag state classification rules now classify these vessels as "Dynamic Positioning Vessels", thus changing the manning requirements significantly. How do you feel about the recent reclassification of DP drilling vessels, and the more … [Read more...]