The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has designated DR Congo as the world’s poorest-performing flag state.
In its recently released 2023/2024 Shipping Industry Flag State Performance report, ICS ranked DR Congo at the bottom of the list, accumulating 11 negative indicators out of a total of 18.
Following closely, Comoros garnered the second-highest number of negative indicators, totaling 10 out of 18.
Togo and Algeria were also singled out by the ICS for consistently registering a significant number of negative indicators, underscoring the importance of prompting shipowners and operators to carefully assess a Flag State’s adequacy before selection.
Several major flags, including Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Denmark, Greece, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Liberia, Malta, Marshall Islands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, showcased positive indicators across all 18 performance categories.
For smaller flag states, the ICS observed positive developments in Costa Rica, Egypt, Mexico, and Thailand, reflecting improvements in the number of favorable indicators.
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“The information in this year’s highly anticipated ICS Flag State Performance Table continues to be positive, with notable improvements in several areas including governments’ attendance at IMO meetings. It is a positive development that this year’s ICS Flag State Performance Table shows that smaller Flag States have shown improvements in performance.
“The table also shows that, unfortunately, a number of Flag States continue to record large amounts of negative performance indicators which Flag States must address, for the benefit of the entire shipping industry,” ICS Secretary General, Guy Platten, said.
(Ships & Ports)