Vanuatu Registry Stays On QUALSHIP 21

by Mary Swire, for LawAndTax-News.com, Hong Kong

04 October 2006

Vanuatu's shipping registry announced that for the fourth year in a row, Vanuatu’s low detention rate in the United States made Vanuatu vessels eligible for the US Coast Guard’s QUALSHIP 21 program. The QUALSHIP 21 eligibility continues in 2006 with only 1 detention, and a three year rolling average detention rate of 0.61%, more than three times better than the all ships/all flags rate of 2.00%.

Vanuatu Maritime Services Ltd (VMSL), which runs the registry for Vanuatu, says however that it is disappointed to note that Vanuatu remains on the Paris MOU's ‘grey list’ of countries, with just 1 detention in 2005 (but 3 from 2003 and 2004 combined). These detentions resulted in a one year detention rate of 2.17% versus the all ships/all flags rate of 4.67%, and a three year rolling average rate for Vanuatu of 3.05% versus the all ships/all flags rate of 5.83%.

The Tokyo MOU on Asia/Pacific Port State Control statistics were more than satisfactory, placing Vanuatu on the A/P ‘white list’ of countries, with only 2 detentions recorded in 2005. The Vanuatu one year detention rate of 2.50% was less than half the all ships/all flags detention rate of 5.21%. The three year rolling average detention rate for Vanuatu was 3.62% versus the all ships/all flags rate of 6.71%.

VMSL is a privately held Vanuatu company operating under contract to the Vanuatu government as the Maritime Administrator. VMSL operates the central registry office and handles all details of vessel registration, mortgage recordation, crew documentation, and all matters relating to safety and proper vessel inspection and documentation. There are more than 600 ships on the Vanuatu register.

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