Liberia Receives Qualship 21 Status

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

07 June 2011

The Liberian Registry has welcomed its admittance by the United States Coast Guard on its QUALSHIP 21 programme for 2011/12, making the territory one of twenty which the US considers maintain the highest standards of safety and quality.

The QUALSHIP 21 (Quality Shipping for the 21st Century) programme is a quality incentive programme to which only a small percentage of foreign-flag ships calling at US ports are admitted, based on the excellence of their port state control record. The USCG developed Qualship 21 to provide an incentive for well-run, quality ships and ship operators. Designated ships are recognized and rewarded by the USCG for their commitment to safety and quality by being subject to reduced port procedures.

In admitting Liberia to the programme, the US Coast Guard congratulated Liberia on its "exceptional commitment to quality", and highlighted its "excellent" detention ratio. The Liberian fleet is the largest register recognized by Qualship 21.

Scott Bergeron, Chief Operating Officer of the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry (LISCR), the US-based manager of the Liberian Registry, commented:

"This recognition of Liberia's commitment to quality shipping is all the more significant because it comes at a time of major expansion for the registry. The Liberian-flag fleet has more than doubled in size since LISCR assumed management control in 2000, and now stands at 3,570 ships totalling 115 million gross tons."

"Qualship 21 recognition provides further confirmation of Liberia's pre-eminent position in terms of safety and quality-driven shipping. This is good news for the ever-increasing numbers of shipowners who operate their ships under the Liberian flag. Any register can grow in size, but to do so while maintaining the highest standards of safety is more difficult, and must be the aim of any responsible ship registry."

The other registries recognized for high standards in 2011 are: Barbados; Canada; the Cayman Islands; Denmark; France; Germany; Greece; Hong Kong; the Isle of Man; Japan; Malaysia; the Marshall Islands; Norway; Russia; Sweden; Switzerland; Thailand; the United Kingdom and Vanuatu.

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