There has been a rise in incidents of rogue shipping companies attempting to conceal their activities by fraudulently making use of flag registries. To combat this, tougher measures to clamp down on this trend is being worked upon by the United Nations’ shipping agency, said reports quoting officials of the agency.

Partly because of the need to comply with international safety and environmental laws, registration of all commercial ships is mandatory – which means that the ships would be flagged in a particular country.

Tactics to side step that measure have been adopted by some ships involved in trading of goods with countries such as North Korea, Iran and Syria which have been sanctioned by international bodies such as the UN and the United States. The tactics of the rouge ships include false reporting their flag registry and turning of their location transponders. These tactics are also adopted to secure insurance.

The areas of trade that front companies try to hide their activities in order to avoid being detected include drug and weapon smuggling.

Following a committee session last week, a series of measures were agreed to by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The IMO said that the measures include the creation of a robust data base of registries and means to enhance information exchange about fraudulent registration of ships. Adherence to the requirement for an onboard record of a ship’s history and increased verification of vessels through their unique IMO numbers were among the other recommendations.

Creation of o a searchable data base would also be prepared by the IMO in collaboration with the U.N. Security Council. The database would display all o f e registered vehicles according to U.N. resolutions. The work is expected to be completed in 2021.

“Experience has shown that the raison d’être of fraudulent registries is to conceal illicit activity on board vessels, including activities prohibited by United Nations sanctions,” the United States said in one submission to the IMO.

The registries of many countries had been used countries for fraudulent purposes without the knowledge of the for fraudulent purposes of the countries by the use of fake documents or keep a flag even after the termination of its time period, reported many countries to the IMO.

More than 20 cases of the fraudulent use of its flag had been reported by Tanzania said since 2016, and the country discovered the events after it collaborated with other countries.

On the other hand, complaints of violations of Western sanctions by shipments from Crimea have been complained by Ukraine to the IMO. It has asked the member states to de-list any vessels involved.

“More than 80 ships unlawfully registered in the closed seaports in Crimea”, pointed out Vitalii Moshkivskyi, Ukraine’s deputy permanent representative, in a statement to the IMO.

(Adapted from Reuters.com)

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