In yesterday’s  New York Times, Rose George of Leeds, UK was an Op-Ed Contributor.   In her essay, Flying the Flag, Fleeing the State, she starts off by calling many ship operators criminals and comparing them to Somali pirates:  But maritime lawlessness isn’t confined to pirates.  Thanks to a system of ship registration called “flags of convenience,” it is all too easy for unscrupulous ship owners to get away with criminal behavior. It is a shame that she is so free in making such inflammatory and factually inaccurate comparisons.  Ms. Rose is apparently writing a book about the  merchant  marine.  Her previous book was about sewage. (No, I am not making that up.)

In a limited sense, Ms. George has a point – too many sailors are still not treated well or fairly by their employers and some ship owners are not scrupulous in obeying  environmental  laws.   The problem is that Ms. Rose lacks the context to understand what she is complaining about.  Simply put – she misses the point.

She seems to blame all the ills  of the deep sea shipping industry on “flags of convenience.”   Unfortunately, the mistreatment of sailors and shoddy operations by unscrupulous owners did not begin in the 1950s with the creation of  “flags of convenience,” nor is it  likely to end if somehow this institution was magically abolished.

Most ships in deep sea service in the world today operate under a so-called “flag of convenience.”   There are 32 independent registers considered to be “flags of convenience.”   The top 11 flags of convenience account for almost 55% of the entire world fleet.   Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands are the world’s three largest registries in terms of deadweight tonnage. As of 2009 ships flying the flag so these three registries alone represented more than 39% of the world’s shipbourne carrying capacity.

The best ship owners in the world operate under flags of convenience and so do the worst.   Ship owners were shifting from one flag to another to escape regulations and to hire lower cost sailors long before the first flag of convenience was  established in the 1950s.  Most of the issues that Ms. George identifies were problems long before FOCs.

If one was to only read Ms. George’s little screed one might not understand that the shipping industry has indeed taken action against substandard registers and shoddy shipowners.  Ms. George makes no reference to and may be unaware of the Port State Control instituted by the 1982 “Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control,” (the Paris MOU,) or the  “Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control in the Asia-Pacific Region”, (the Tokyo MOU,)  as well as the enforcement actions of the US Coast Guard and regulatory agencies of other states.   Port State Control provides for the  inspection of foreign ships in other national ports, in order to verify the competency of the master and officers, to check that the condition of a ship complies with the requirements of international conventions and that the vessel is manned and operated in compliance with applicable international law.

It is almost funny.  One remedy recommended by Ms. George:  A more immediate, if partial, solution would be for port authorities, which have the power to detain unsafe or abusive ships that dock in their harbors, to pay extra attention to ships registered under notoriously lax states, like the Comoros.

I wonder whether Ms. George considers this to be a particularly new idea. It is indeed a great idea, which is why this is exactly what has been going on for almost 30 years under Port State Control.  As of 2009, fourteen of the thirty-one flags of convenience have been targeted for special enforcement by the countries of the Paris and Tokyo MOUs or U.S. Coast Guard.

Ms. George is right to point out the serious problems within international shipping.  Issues of crew welfare, safety,  corporate visibility and environmental accountability are problems that are currently being addressed, and yet more needs to be done.   Nevertheless, to blame everything on flags of convenience, however, largely misses the point.  And calling shipowners criminals and pirates doesn’t add anything useful to the conversation.

Thanks to Phil Leon for pointing out the op-ed.