Panama behind in surveyor pay

SURVEYORS contracted by the government maritime agency administering Panama's flag registry are not conducting thorough annual flag-state inspections and have not been paid for six months, some of those working within the international network have alleged. The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) is pocketing more money but there is a "dangerous drop" in inspection quality, which has worrying implications for the AMP and the IMO, which regulates it, say the surveyors. Sources familiar with the issue confirmed the back payment problems, but were unable to comment about the quality of vessel safety inspections. The AMP collects about $1,000 from each ship registered as part of an annual inspection fee, from which surveyors receive $300. AMP figures show that more than $21.2M has been collected since 1999 from inspection fees. Panama flag state inspectors first raised technical and safety concerns in 2000 and 2001 after surveyors' payments fell more than 18 months behind. The AMP said as recently as early 2002 that all surveyor payments were up to date, following an audit to confirm outstanding money owed. The flag state network of surveyors stood at 143 in 2001, after the AMP sacked as many as 200 surveyors.

13 June 2003

Why so many shipowners find Panama's flag convenient 5 August 2014 (BBC)

Panama, a small nation of just three million, has the largest shipping fleet in the world, greater than those of the US and China combined. Aliyya Swaby investigates how this tiny Central American country came to rule the waves.

Thanks to its location and slender shape, Panama enjoys a position as the guardian of one of the world's most important marine trade routes, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

For a hundred years the Panama Canal has provided a short cut for ships wishing to avoid the more hazardous route via Cape Horn.

Dubbed one of the seven wonders of the modern world, the 77km (48-mile) canal is a feat of engineering that handles 14,000 ships every year along its intricate lock system.

Many of these vessels fly the Panamanian flag yet the country itself has a limited history of trade.

Panama only has one small shipping line as well as a number of companies providing supplementary maritime services around the ports and canal.

Cheaper foreign labour

Most merchant ships flying Panama's flag belong to foreign owners wishing to avoid the stricter marine regulations imposed by their own countries.

Panama operates what is known as an open registry. Its flag offers the advantages of easier registration (often online) and the ability to employ cheaper foreign labour. Furthermore the foreign owners pay no income taxes.

About 8,600 ships fly the Panamanian flag. By comparison, the US has around 3,400 registered vessels and China just over 3,700.

Under international law, every merchant ship must be registered with a country, known as its flag state.

That country has jurisdiction over the vessel and is responsible for inspecting that it is safe to sail and to check on the crew's working conditions.

Open registries, sometimes referred to pejoratively as flags of convenience, have been contentious from the start.

The first transfer of ships to Panama's register in 1922 involved two US passenger ships wishing to serve alcohol to passengers during Prohibition. More followed as shipowners sought to avoid higher wages and improved working conditions secured through US legislation.

After World War Two, Panama's registry grew more rapidly as US shipowners sought to lower overheads while European ones switched flags to avoid high tax rates.

As demand rose for open registration, other countries in the developing world formed their own. The US used Liberia's registry to build a fleet of neutral ships during the Cold War.

Panama now has the largest registry in the world, followed by Liberia, the Marshall Islands, Hong Kong and Singapore. By last year, almost three quarters of the world's fleet was registered under a flag of a country other than its own.

The registry is lucrative for Panama, bringing in half a billion dollars for the economy in fees, services and taxes.

However, critics of the system point to the ease of hiding the true identity of shipowners and the lax enforcement of rules and regulations.

Allegations of corruption

Luis Fruto, representative of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) in Panama, says the country turns a blind eye to its "responsibilities in order to acquire higher registration".

The ITF has led a campaign against flags of convenience since 1958. It considers that Panamanian registration is better than some "from a safety viewpoint, but it remains seriously flawed in areas such as oversight, accident investigation and crew assistance".

Two years ago, Mr Fruto investigated the death of a woman sailor, 22, on her first voyage. She became trapped in machinery that was reportedly faulty and died.

The ITF says that, rather than heading for the nearest port as rules dictate, the ship continued to sail for more than two weeks with her body in a freezer.

Further investigation by the ITF suggested that some of the shipping certificates had been bought.

International legal requirements insist that countries operating open registries inspect vessels, comply with international regulations and investigate accidents and corruption.

But critics say that Panama cuts corners in all these tasks, putting maritime workers at risk.

Indeed, accidents involving Panamanian-registered ships are high.

However, Carlos Gonzalez, former executive secretary of the Panamanian Maritime Authority, attributes this to a numbers game.

Panama has the most ships and therefore the most incidents, he says.

Since 2008, Panama has cut down on enough offences to move up from the black to the white list of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding, a watchdog comprising 27 maritime administrations from Europe and North America.

Yet Panama's registry is consistently beset by allegations of corruption.

'Scandal'

In 2000, ITF general secretary David Cockroft was able to buy a Panamanian first officer's certificate for $4,000 to navigate a ship - even though he had no maritime skills or experience.

Despite repeated assurances that the country was cleaning up its act, Roberto Linares, the head of the Panama Maritime Authority, resigned in June after it was discovered that workers were being certified without the proper qualifications.

"The scandal brings us back to the days that Panama was called a 'convenience flag'," said Franklin Castrellon, former spokesman for the Panama Canal Commission, an independent agency operating the waterway until the country took over from the US in 1999.

New leadership plans to turn things around again.

Jorge Barakat, the new head of the maritime authority, said: "The Panamanian flag is still robust and secure. Whatever kind of non-compliance there is will be reviewed by the administration."

As a commercial venture, Panama's flag of convenience is a success. But according to the ITF, that comes at a cost.

'Distorted the market'

It believes the world economy could survive a ban on flags of convenience and the higher costs that it says would follow.

ITF secretary Jon Whitlow said: "There would be some reconfiguration. The positive effects would include better protections and safeguards for seafarers who found themselves once again serving on a national flag ship."

Shipping prices would rise, but free competition has extensively distorted the market, he says.

However, defenders of the system say this thinking is outdated and that flags of convenience are here to stay.

"Panama's registry will last for ever," said Jorge Luis Sanchez, professor at the International Maritime University of Panama. "Those who don't like the open registry can opt to do something else with their ships."

Jazmina Rovi, former director of the Panama Maritime Law Association, said unions are better off enforcing uniform standards than eliminating the registry altogether.

With the new maritime administrator sworn in last month, it remains to be seen whether Panama will crack down on corruption and safety breaches or continue to live with the taint that still clings to flags of convenience.

日本初のカジノ船、上海航路で実現　パナマ船籍　法務省ＯＫ 07/27/12（JC-NET）

ハウステンボスの子会社が、本年２月就航させた客船オーシャンローズ号による「上海航路」、日本の法律が適用されない公海上に限定して、客船内でカジノ営業が開始された。

上海航路は、ハウステンボスの子会社が２月２９日から長崎と上海間で就航させたもの。もともと、上海からハウステンボスに集客するため運航を開始。 しかし、料金が安いにもかかわらず、乗船客が低調に推移したため休航、約２ヶ月間かけ、船舶をカジノ仕様に改装していた。（中国の経済不況や福島原発での 水爆の影響もあり）

７月２５日運航を再開、上海へ向け長崎港を出航した。今回の航路から、カジノ営業のほか、長旅を楽しめるショーなどの娯楽も提供している。

カジノ営業は、国内では禁止されているが、上海航路の船籍は、カジノが認められているパナマ船籍、また、営業は、日本の法律が適用されない公海上に限定して行われ、法務省でも、法律上まったく問題ないとしているという。

このカジノは、海外企業が運営、この企業から、パナマにあるハウステンボスの関連会社に、テナント料が支払われる。

ハウステンボスの澤田社長は、上海航路を計画した段階から、公海上のカジノ営業を打ち出しており、用意周到にカジノ営業を実現したものと思われる。 しかし、カジノには、ショーと酒とオンナが付きモノ、最後のモノはどうするのであろうか。

＜日本でもカジノの門戸を開いたＨ.Ｉ.Ｓ.澤田会長＞ 今回、法務省が、公海上といえども実質日本の会社が運航する船舶上で、カジノを許可したことから、外国船籍のカジノ専用船舶（なければ造る）を、日本沖合４４キロ（1,852ｍ×24海里＝接続海域外）以上の公海に浮かべ（停泊）、ショーと酒とオンナ（またはオトコ）付きのカジノが可能となる。オンナは、自由恋愛志望の女性を船内クラブに配置すれば何も問題なかろう。

カジノ経営は、パナマでカジノ許可を持つ会社とタッグを組むか、小さな許可を持つ会社を買収するか、パナマで会社設立してカジノ許可を取るか。

キーポイントは、公海上、外国船籍、日本にはないカジノの営業許可を持つ業者がカジノを運営することだけのようだ。

日本でのパチンコやスロットも換金できるという点ではカジノ（＝洋風バクチ）そのものであり、パチンコは良くて、カジノは駄目という理屈は通らない。大きな利権が渦巻くこれまでの既得権者保護行政は如何なものかと思われる。イロイロな規制をかけ、その対応に天下り団体を作るという利権構造問題だけはどうしても納得できない。天下り撲滅を。

パナマ船籍船：パナマ船籍にすると、税金等の船舶にかかる費用が安く済む（固定資産税）。パナマは、簡単にペーパーカンパニーを作ることができる。船員は乗船する船舶の国籍の海技免状が必要であるが、パナマの海技免状は、簡単に取得できる。
ということで、実質日本船でも船籍をパナマ船籍にしている便宜置籍船所有の大手海運会社（日本＋外国）が殆どである。
同じような船舶のタックスヘブン国としては、アフリカのリベリアが上げられる。

領 海　 ：１２海里（１海里＝1,852ｍ）　約２２ｋｍ
接続海域：２４海里　約４４ｋｍ
排他的経済水域：２００海里　約３７０ｋｍ

Open Registry, the Genuine Link and the 1986 Convention on Registration Conditions for Ships
H.W. Wefers Bettink
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0167676800001689 Published online: 01 July 2009
(CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS)

References
3. Boczek, B.A., Flags of Convenience. An International Legal Study (1962) p. 9 Google Scholar, mentions the transfer of two cruise ships in 1922 from the American to the Panamanian register, to evade the prohibition on selling or transporting alcoholic beverages on board American-owned vessels. R. Carlisle, who in his Sovereignty for Sale (1981) makes a historical analysis of open registries, demonstrates at p. 17 that the real motives were the possibility of saving on crew costs and to evade burdensome inspection regulations. Similar reasons were given by the buyer of six freighters which the US Government had confiscated from the Central Powers during World War I, when these were transferred to a Panamanian registry in 1922, ibid., pp. 9–11.
4. Amendments to the Neutrality Act of November 1939 prohibited American ships from entering war zones, i.e., the East Atlantic. Registration in Panama enabled American companies to evade this prohibition and to keep their ships in a trading position with the United Kingdom and Western Europe, Carlisle, op.cit. n. 3, p. 71 et seq.
5. Liberia had a special relationship with the US as it had been founded in 1822 on the West Coast of Africa by liberated American slaves. The Liberian register was set up by former US Secretary of State Edward Stettinius Jr., in response to requests from American shipowners looking for an alternative to Panamanian registration. As Carlisle explains his initiative was partly philanthropic, partly commercial. Under an agreement with the Liberian Government he set up the Liberia Company to implement plans for Liberia's development: Carlisle, op.cit. n.3, p. 115 et seq. Profits were to be shared with the Liberian Government. Stettinius was to set up the International Trust Company in New York, to handle the registration of ships. It was kept separate from the Liberia Company and was purchased by the International Bank of Washington in 1954. See also Boczek, op.cit. n. 3, p. 13.