Paris MoU black list is growing
At its 43rd meeting in May 2010, the Paris MoU committee approved the 2009 inspection results and adopted new performance lists for flag states and recognised organisations. These lists will take effect from 1 July 2010.
The ‘black list’ for 2010 contains 23 flag states, two more than in 2009. The 2010 ‘white list’ includes 39 flag States, a reduction of two.
A hard core of flag states remain on the black list. Most of the flags that were considered “very high risk” in 2009 have retained this ranking. The poorest performing flags are Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Libya, Togo , Bolivia, Albania and Sierra Leone.
Flags with an average performance are shown on the grey list. Their appearance on this list may act as an incentive to improve and move to the white list. At the same time flags at the lower end of the grey list should, according to the MoU committee, be careful not to neglect control over their ships and risk ending up on the black list next year.
The committee has congratulated Panama for its efforts, which have resulted in moving from the black to the grey list. Poland and Croatia have also done well, moving up from grey to white. Vanuatu and Switzerland, however, moved down from white to grey.
The white list represents quality flags with a consistently low detention record. Bermuda (UK), China, and Denmark are placed highest in terms of performance.
A flag’s ranking is taken into account when targeting ships for inspection and ships flying flags listed on the black list are liable for banning from the region after multiple detentions.
The Paris MoU also agreed on the performance listing of recognised organisations (ROs). These organisations have been delegated with statutory responsibilities by flag States. This table uses the same method of calculation as the flag state table but counts only those detentions, which the Paris MoU considers to be directly related to a statutory survey carried out by the RO. Registro Italiano Navale, American Bureau of Shipping and Germanischer Lloyd are the highest performing ROs.
Register of Shipping (Albania), Bulgarski Koraben Registar and International Register of Shipping (USA) have been identified as showing very low performance.
