Marshall Islands Achieves QUALSHIP 21 Milestone

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) was recognized for 17 consecutive years on the United States Coast Guard’s (USCG’s) QUALSHIP 21 roster, making it the only one of the world’s three largest registries to attain QUALSHIP 21 status. 

As reported in the recently published Port State Control in the United States 2020 Annual Report, the RMI remains a top performer for 2020, even in the face of extraordinary challenges.

More than 1,100 RMI flagged vessels were enrolled in QUALSHIP 21 in 2020, with an additional 78 having enrolled thus far in 2021. This means approximately one third of the QUALSHIP 21 certified vessels are flying the RMI flag, which illustrates the Registry’s dedication to high-quality standards fleetwide.

“This year was extraordinarily challenging for all industry stakeholders, specifically ships’ crews, and yet the RMI flag’s three year rolling average detention ratio stands at 0.74%, below the 1.02% USCG threshold for QUALSHIP21,” said Brian Poskaitis, IRI’s Senior Vice President, Fleet Operations. “The annual report is a real benchmark for us and reflects the coordination, professionalism, and focus our vessels and their crews have placed on compliance,” he continued.

In 2020, the RMI Registry issued Marine Safety Advisory 13-20, which allowed for remote inspections where a physical inspection was not advisable or permissible due to local restrictions.  To date, 1,098 remote inspections have been conducted, with the ability to perform physical inspections constantly fluctuating due to the pandemic.