The Dutch flag now belongs to a select list of flags of the US Coast Guard, the Qualship21 list. All ships sailing under the Dutch flag can now apply to be admitted to the list. Ships admitted to the programme are inspected less frequently in US waters. In addition, the ship receives a Qualship 21 certificate and will be mentioned on the US Coast Guard website.
The Coast Guard implemented Qualship21 on January 1, 2001. The system identifies high-quality ships sailing under a foreign flag that meet international and American norms, and provides incentives to encourage quality operations.
In the coming months the US Coast Guard will contact Dutch ship owners to ask if they want to be registered on the Qualship list. The following criteria determine whether a ship is eligible or not:
– Must be a non-US flagged ship.
– No substandard vessel detentions in the US within the previous 36 months.
– No marine violations or serious marine casualties, and no more than one ticket in the US within the previous 36 months.
– Successful US PSC Safety Exam within the previous 12 months.
– Not owned or operated by any company that has been associated with any PSC detention in US waters within the previous 24 months.
– Vessels cannot have their statutory convention certificates issued by, a targeted recognised organisation (Targeted recognised organisations are any that have points assigned in the US Port State Control Matrix).
– Not registered with a Flag Administration that has a detention ratio greater than 1.0 per cent and the vessel’s Flag Administration must have at least ten distinct arrivals in each of the previous three years.
– The vessel’s Flag Administration must have submitted their Self-Assessment of Flag Administration (State) Performance to the IMO and provided a copy to the US Coast Guard.
– The vessel’s Flag Administration must submit its Executive Summary from its Voluntary Member State Audit Scheme audit to the US Coast Guard or submit a letter/email attesting to the fact that they have not yet undergone the audit, but have submitted their request to be audited.
– The Coast Guard reserves the right to restrict eligibility in the QUALSHIP 21 program to any vessel because of special circumstances, including but not limited to, significant overseas casualties or detentions, and pending criminal or civil investigations.
Apart from the Netherlands, other flag states on the Qualship21 list are the Bahamas, Liberia, the Cayman Islands, the Marshall Islands, Denmark, France, Norway, Hong Kong, Sweden, the Isle of Man, the United Kingdom and Japan.
