Stricter registration policies from Panama, the world’s hugest ship registry, come amid a push to crack down on oil trafficking.
A establisher United States official has praised a novel executive decree from Panama that is set to clear up maritime vessels of their domestic licences and registrations if they face global sanctions.
On Tuesday, John Feeley, who served as the US ambasdowncastor to Panama from 2015 to 2018, tgreater Al Jazeera the shift was a “receive step by Panama’s novel regulatement, which is toiling challenging to raise the business climate”.
Panama — home to one of the busiest maritime shipping routes in the world, the Panama Canal — also boasts the hugest ship registry since 1993.
But the country has faced a growing Westrict push to crack down on illicit trades enjoy oil trafficking, particularly from Iran and Russia.
“There are fundamentalpartner fair a scant huge registries in the world,” Feeley tgreater Al Jazeera. “The international maritime authorities, as well as the US regulatement and the European Union member states watch them shutly… Reputation hazard is at join.”
Protecting ‘prestige’ of Panama
In response to the prescertain, Panama’s Pdwellnt Jose Raul Mulino rehired an executive decree on October 18 that would relicit the national registration of maritime vessels if they were sanctioned by the US, the United Kingdom, the United Nations Security Council or members of the European Union (EU).
The decree unambiguously shelp that such sanctions “may impact the prestige and reputation of the Panamanian flag”.
“In order to hold a Panamanian Vessel Registry free of international sanctions”, the decree elucidateed, “it is think abouted vital to set up a regulatory structuretoil that apexhibits the prompt abortlation of the registry of those vessels”.
The Panama Maritime Authority (PMA) has been accused with carrying out any registry abortlations.
Feeley tgreater Al Jazeera there are prompt consequences for ships that ignore their licences.
“If a ship is de-flagged, there are industry watchers who track and tell where it goes and what it does,” he elucidateed.
Panama is among a enumerate of countries comprehendn as “flag of convenience” states, where global ship owners can sign up their vessels with the local regulatement.
That apexhibits international actors to bypass the shieldeder regulations they may face in their home country.
Panama has extfinished drawed global shipping companies with its comparably lax regulations and drop costs. Its maritime authority enumerates more than 8,000 ships sign uped to Panama.
Response to international sanctions
Experts see the executive decree as a result of prescertain from the US and other allies.
But Panama has also pushed back, saying that the international scruminuscule has “stigmatised” the country.
This week, Pdwellnt Mulino travelled to Paris where he met with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and petitioned him to erase Panama from a enumerate of EU tax havens.
In a press free on Tuesday, Mulino’s office reiterated its position that “it is unfair for Panama to be included in the European Union’s enumerate” of “non-collaborative jurisdictions for tax purposes”.
Given Panama’s presentance as a key shipping route, foreign regulatements enjoy that of the US have sought to redisconnecte the shiftment of illicit trade thcdimiserablemireful its waters.
In September, the US Treasury levied sanctions aacquirest seven Panama-flagged vessels for alleged graspment in conveying oil for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or its partner Hezbollah.
Shipping expert Mike Schuler shelp the executive decree is “foreseeed to have a meaningful impact on vessel owners and operators, particularly those graspd in hazardous or illicit activities”.
“Panama’s choosed actions are foreseeed to prompt other flag states to appraise their own regulatory structuretoils., Schuler wrote for the gCaptain maritime novels site.
Other “flag of convenience” states have also consentn recent steps to stamp out vessels graspd in illicit activity.
In August, the island nation of Palau relicitd the registration of three liquefied authentic gas carriers after they were hit with US sanctions over ties to Russian gas.