The Significance of Flag During A Ship’s Life

By Bill Gallagher, International Registries, Inc.

Shipping is like no other business I know. In what other industry can so many people of so many different backgrounds and interests come together to put their full faith and financial interests in one vessel that plys the seven seas? In my years as a Flag State Administrator, I’ve been amazed by how many different people from the varying industry sectors I would meet in a given year. Oftentimes, I found it rather curious how parochial some of the industry segments were. For instance, the lawyers may know the bankers or owners, but would be hard pressed to name important technical types from the class societies or port States. The obvious reason for this diversity of contacts for me is that all the major players in the maritime industry come together in the vessel registration process. Lawyers, owners, shipbuilders, charterers, class societies, ship managers, financiers, P&I all have a piece of the process. I think this diversity has had a profound effect on the flag State Administrations. Years ago, the registry model was long on the master, regulator and legal side as far as personnel were concerned. Now we find it expedient to have all the varying disciplines represented in our Administration. Within this new registry model, ship managers, crewing agents, regulators, and bankers, among others, have all found a home. That home itself used to be one centralized location in Reston, Virginia. Now it is 21 locations worldwide, which truly reflects the international nature of the shipping business.
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Full House in Athens – Part 2

By Kevin Oates

…in the longer term shipping should correct but quality, transparency and financial strength are key to survival.

Despite the tough market and the general lack of ship finance, Marine Money’s Greek Ship Finance Forum again filled the seats in Athens.  With 310 delegates and speakers and some 40 more for the TEN Ltd lunch, there was plenty gossip and exchange of views at the 11th Annual conference held on the 8th of October 2009.

The event had started with a speaker’s dinner the previous night co-hosted by Navios Maritime Holdings and was to end in the early hours of the following morning at the Capital Party co-hosted by Capital Product Partners LP at a well-known Athens nightclub.  Even if the market is tough, we still know how to enjoy ourselves.

Back at the conference, our day began with Guy Verberne, a leading economist at Fortis Bank (Nederland) telling us that the economic recovery has come and it may well be sustainable.  China, he says, has plenty foreign reserves to prolong it’s stimulus package for as long as it needs and he sees no meaningful cutbacks from the stimulus packages of western governments, at least through 2010.  A risk is a double dip in 2011 if we get too bogged down in debt.
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