08APR2019 - NEWS - International Maritime Organization working on to clamp down on rogue shipping companies

The United Nations shipping agency is working on tougher measures to clamp down on rogue shipping companies trying to use flag registries fraudulently to conceal their activities. All commercial ships have to be registered – flagged in a particular country – partly to comply with safety and environmental laws. With international and U.S. sanctions imposed on countries including North Korea, Iran and Syria, some ships involved in such trade have used tactics to sidestep the measures including turning off their location transponders and falsely reporting their flag registry, also to secure insurance. Drug and weapon smuggling are among other areas of trade in which front companies attempt to conceal their activities to avoid being detected. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) agreed on a series of measures after a committee session last week which included the creation of a comprehensive database of registries and ways to improve information on the illegal registration of ships.

Published by Editor - www.Livebunkers.com at 08-Apr-2019 05:25:34 [UTC] , contact editor at editor@livebunkers.com