Flag of Convenience - Extent of Use

Extent of Use

The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) maintains a list of 32 registries it considers to be FOC registries. In developing the list, the ITF considers "ability and willingness of the flag state to enforce international minimum social standards on its vessels," the "degree of ratification and enforcement of ILO Conventions and Recommendations," and "safety and environmental record." As of 2010 the list includes Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Burma, Cambodia, the Cayman Island, Comoros, Cyprus, Equatorial Guinea, Georgia, Gibraltar, Honduras, Jamaica, Lebanon, Liberia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mongolia, Netherlands Antilles, North Korea, Panama, Sao Tome and Príncipe, St Vincent, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Vanuatu, and the French and German International Ship Registers.

As of 2009, Panama, Liberia and the Marshall Islands are the world’s three largest registries in terms of deadweight tonnage (DWT). These three organizations registered 11,636 ships of 1,000 DWT and above, for a total of 468,405,000 DWT: more than 39% of the world's shipbourne carrying capacity. Panama dominates the scene with over 8,065 ships accounting for almost 23% of the world's DWT. Of the three, the Marshall Islands (with 1,265 registered ships) had the greatest rate of DWT increase in 2009, increasing its tonnage by almost 15%.

The Bahamian flag ranks sixth worldwide, behind the Hong Kong and Greek registries, but is similar in size to the Marshallese flag of convenience, with about 200 more ships but a carrying capacity about 6,000,000 DWT lower. Malta, at the ninth position worldwide, had about 100 more ships than the Bahamas, with a capacity of 50,666,000 DWT, representing 4% of the world fleet with 12% growth that year.

At the eleventh position, Cyprus registered 1,016 ships in 2009, 2.6% of world tonnage. The remaining top 11 flags of convenience are Antigua and Barbuda (#20), Bermuda (#22), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (#26), and the French International Ship Register (FIS) at number #27. Bermuda and the FIS have fewer than 200 ships apiece, but they are large: the average Bermudan ship is 67,310 DWT and the average FIS ship is at 42,524 DWT. (By way of reference, the average capacity of ships in the U.S. and U.K. registers is 1,851 DWT and 9,517 DWT respectively.) The registries of Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines both have over 1,000 ships with average capacity of 10,423 DWT and 7,334 DWT respectively.

The 21 other flags of convenience listed by the ITF each account for less than 1% of the world's DWT. As of 2008, more than half of the world’s merchant ships (measured by tonnage) are registered under flags of convenience.