Republic of the Marshall Islands Maintains Qualitative Edge
The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) received preliminary information regarding the United States Coast Guard’s (USCG’s) Qualship 21 list during Intertanko’s North American Panel meeting.
The meeting, which took place on day one of the Connecticut Maritime Association’s (CMA’s) Shipping 2016 conference, was the largest attended North American Panel meeting to date.
Rear Admiral Paul Thomas, Assistant Commandant for Prevention Policy, USCG presented the preliminary results showing the RMI on the Qualship 21 list for 2016. While these results are preliminary, the final results will be presented in the USCG’s 2016 Annual Report scheduled to be released in early summer. There were 26 eligible flag States in 2015 of which 13 fell off the 2016.
Qualship 21 preliminary list. The RMI is the only flag State of the three largest that holds this status. The other flag States that continue on the list include Belgium, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Denmark, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Japan, Republic of Korea, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Italy, Mexico and the Philippines are new to the 2016 Qualship 21 preliminary list.
“I’ve been coming to CMA the past 16 years promoting the RMI flag and talking with our owners and operators and of course the other industry stakeholders that shape the maritime industry,” said Bill Gallagher, President of International Registries, Inc. which provides administrative and technical support to the RMI Maritime and Corporate Registries.
“Even though the data is preliminary, getting the news during CMA that we will continue on Qualship 21 for 12 consecutive years was timely and meant we could immediately share this information with our owners and operators in person,” continued Bill Gallagher.
“The RMI fleet has more than 130 million gross tons and more than 50% of that tonnage was represented by attendees at the CMA conference this year,” said Gallagher. “Even with the growth of the Registry it is gratifying to note that we are maintaining our qualitative edge and based on the preliminary data will continue on Qualship 21 for what will now be 12 consecutive years,”concluded Gallagher.
