The Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has published its new performance lists for flag states and recognised organisations. Denmark still tops the list as best-performing flag state, but the Netherlands is now the runner-up, up from fifth place last year.
The new Paris MoU lists take effect from the 1st of July 2022. The flag state performance overview is divided into a White, Grey and Black List. It is based on the total number of inspections and detentions during a three-year rolling period for flags with at least 30 inspections in the period.
The White List represents quality flags with a consistently low detention record. Flags with an average performance are shown on the Grey List. Their appearance on this list may serve as an incentive to improve. At the same time flags at the lower end of the Grey List should be careful not to neglect control over their ships and risk ending up on the Black List next year.
Also read: Dutch flag drops one spot on Port State Control performance list
2021 list versus 2020 list
Regarding the flag state performance list for 2021, a total number of 68 flags are listed: 40 on the White List, 21 on the Grey List and 7 on the Black List. Last year, the total number of flag states on the 2020 list was 70 of which 39 on the White List, 22 on the Grey List and 9 on the Black List.
The new top 5 is: Denmark (1143 inspections, 6 detentions), the Netherlands (2597 inspections, 33 detentions), Norway (1539 inspections, 18 detentions), the Bahamas (1656 inspections, 24 detentions) and Japan (148 inspections, 0 detentions). Last year, Denmark, Norway, the Marshall Islands, Bermuda and the Netherlands topped the list. Japan jumped up 5 places this year and the Bahamas ended up sixth place last year. The Marshall Islands and Bermuda have dropped to place 15 and 7 respectively.
New entries on the White List are Saudi Arabia and Estonia, while Morocco dropped from the White List to the Grey List.
Up from the Black List to the Grey List are Sierra Leone, Belize and Tanzania. Thailand is a new entry on the Grey List, with the country being absent from the list in 2021. Algeria and Egypt have dropped from the Grey List to the Black List. Kazakhstan and Tunisia (both previously on the Grey List) and Tuvalu (previously on the Black List) have disappeared from the new lists altogether, possibly due to not hitting the thirty-inspection threshold.
The only country on the Black List falling into the category High Risk and coming in last is Cameroon this year. Last year, Albania ended up last on the Black List.
Also read: Dutch flag rises on Port State Control performance list
RO performance
For several years the Committee has closely monitored the performance of recognised organisations (ROs) acting on behalf of flag states. To calculate the performance of ROs, the same formula to calculate the excess factor of the flags is used. A minimum number of 60 inspections per RO is needed before the performance is taken into account for the list. In 2021, 33 ROs were recorded on the performance list.
The top 3 of best performing ROs remained the same: American Bureau of Shipping, DNV and Lloyd’s Register.
Compared to last year, the RO performance level is at a similar level. It is noteworthy that in the last two years, no ROs have been categorised as performing “very low”. Details of the responsibility of ROs for detainable deficiencies have been published since 1999. When one or more detainable deficiencies are attributed to an RO in accordance with the Paris MoU criteria, it is recorded “RO responsible”. Out of 528 detentions recorded in 2021, 64 (12 per cent) were considered RO related (11 per cent in 2020).
