Flying the Marshall Islands flag

LNGCs are now a key ship sector for the Marshall Islands registry, not least because all the Q-max ships and most Q-flex vessels will fly its flag

For a flag administration that did not register its first LNG carrier until 2000, the Marshall Islands has done particularly well in the sector of late. Of the 45 vessels in the Q-flex and Q-max LNG carrier newbuilding programme currently underway, some 37 will fly the Marshall Islands flag. This total includes all 14 of the 265,000m3 Q-max ships.

So far, nine of the delivered Q-flex LNG ships have been registered in the Marshall Islands. It is expected that six of the Q-max LNG carriers will enter the registry by the end of 2008 and that the remaining eight Q-max and 14 Q-flex ships will enter by 2010. Including other, in-service LNG carriers already flying the Marshall Islands flag, the ship register will have in excess of 50 LNG carriers on its books following the delivery of all the Q-flex and Q-max vessels.

The Marshall Islands registry, which is administered by International Registries Inc, with its headquarters in Reston, Virginia and 15 regional offices worldwide, has been expanding steadily in virtually all ship sectors during the course of the current decade. Over the past five years the fleet has doubled in size and now stands at 1,772 registered vessels of 40,954,606 gross tons (gt). The administration traces its origins back to 1948 and breaking the 40 million gt mark recently has heightened this year’s 60th anniversary celebrations. By the time all the Q-flex and Q-max ships are on its books, it is anticipated that LNG ships will account for 15 per cent of the Marshall Islands’ gross tonnage.

“The LNG sector has been attracted to the Marshall Islands registry for some of the same reasons that other sectors of the international shipping community have joined us,” states John Ramage, managing director of International Registries (UK) Ltd in London. “While retaining our emphasis on service and quality, we have changed the way we focus on operations and how we interact with owners, operators and class societies in recent years. This has been done by decentralising the registry’s organisational infrastructure, at the same time ensuring a high level of customer service through our experienced personnel based in the regional offices around the world.

“The addition of personnel with marine safety and technical knowledge in these offices has also enabled the registry to interact more frequently on a face-to-face basis with local port authorities, class societies and owners and operators. At one level the Marshall Islands’ registry maintains a pre-registration filtering process in which records from class, port state control, owners and operators, amongst others, are considered as part of a full vessel review procedure prior to registration. However, it is also critical that a personal dialogue is established and maintained with those parties that interact with the vessel during its trading life.”

John Ramage continues, “By maintaining this close relationship with owners, operators, class societies and local port state control (PSC) authorities, our registry ensures that only quality tonnage is registered and current owners and operators are protected. This is confirmed through the PSC scorecard. The Marshall Islands registry continues to maintain an excellent PSC ship inspection record with all the major port state memorandums of understanding (MOUs), including the Paris and Tokyo MOUs and the US Coast Guard.”

In order to successfully implement the Marshall Islands registry's decentralised structure, it has been necessary to increase technical support staff in the Far East, Europe and the US. This has now been accomplished, to the extent that the registry believes that it has one of the best resourced organisations offering flag state administration services.

To accommodate the strengthening presence in the LNG ship sector all the registry's technical and marine safety personnel have undergone or are scheduled to undergo LNG training. During the first week of September 2008, for example, technical and marine safety personnel from Marshall Islands registry offices worldwide will meet in Baltimore, Maryland, where one of the latest regional offices to open is located, to discuss operational matters and ways to more efficiently address customer issues and concerns relating to technical operations and maritime safety.

At the conclusion of the September meeting, 16 of the registry's staff are scheduled to attend a customised, three-day LNG training session which will focus on theoretical and practical training. This course will act as refresher training for some of the registry's long-term staff and as new instruction for those who have joined the registry more recently.

The ability of the flag administration to support its shipowners in the provision of safe and environment-friendly LNG carriers flows naturally from the systems and procedures that have been established. “The Marshall Islands registry acts in a proactive manner not only at international meetings concerned with the update and revision of the maritime regulatory regime, such as those of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), but also in relation to concerns from owners, operators and classification societies, amongst others,” explains
Mr Ramage.

“Owners who have a specific point to raise and who wish to attend IMO meetings as part of the Marshall Islands delegation are encouraged to do so. The registry also utilises its Marshall Islands Quality Council, which consists of individuals representing the senior executive level of ship ownership and management, together with individuals from a broad spectrum of the shipping industry, namely surveyors, maritime lawyers, marine engineers and naval architects, underwriters, bankers and brokers, to provide advice and guidance in continually improving the safety, security and environmental performance of its vessels.

“In addition, the registry meets formally two times per year with classification societies to co–operate and maintain an effective dialogue toward technical liaison,” concludes Mr Ramage. “This proactive approach and effective dialogue with industry participants enables the registry to assist LNG owners and operators in meeting the challenges that lie ahead.” LNG