ICS publishes latest flag state performance table

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has launched its latest Shipping Industry Flag State Performance Table which can be downloaded from the ICS website.

The ICS said its table is intended to encourage shipowners to maintain a dialogue with their flag administrations to help bring about any improvements that might be necessary in the interests of safety, the environment and decent working conditions. Following the entry into force of the ILO Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) in August 2013, the latest ICS table now requires flag states to have ratified the ILO MLC in order to receive a positive indicator.

ICS emphasised that in today’s global industry, distinctions between so-called ‘traditional’ flags and ‘open registers’ are increasingly meaningless and actually unhelpful. It said its table shows that flag states such as Liberia, Bahamas and the Marshall Islands are amongst the very top performers alongside many European registers and Asian flags such as Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore that might be expected to perform very well.

www.ics-shipping.org/docs/flagstateperformancetable