The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has been recognized as a top performing major flag State in the Tokyo Memorandum of Understanding’s (MoU’s) Annual Report on Port State Control in the Asia-Pacific Region (the “Report”).

Covering port State control performance in 2019, the Report finds that the rolling average detention ratio for RMI vessels over the past three years was 2.19%. This is the lowest detention ratio of any of the top three registries. There were 2,995 RMI vessels inspected in 2019.

“This is another proud achievement for the Marshall Islands,” said Bill Gallagher, President of International Registries, Inc. and its affiliates (IRI), which provide administrative and technical support to the RMI Registry. “It’s been the result of years of hard work in coordination with our owners, close communication with port State control authorities, and boots on the deck across the region.”

The high rating awarded by the Tokyo MoU comes on the back of the United States Coast Guard’s (USCG’s) recent continuation of the RMI’s QUALSHIP 21 status for the 16th consecutive year. This stellar achievement has proven to be elusive for the other top registries.

IRI has invested considerable resources into building a network of in-house and contracted inspectors across the region. China and Australia have been a particular focus for IRI, with teams available in almost every major port.

Annie Ng, IRI’s Head of Asia stated, “we have the strongest office network with nine offices in Asia and we’re able to activate local inspectors who have built up relationships with local port State control teams across the region.”  “Our policy of transparency means that we have their trust and are able to work together to resolve any issues which may come up,” she continued.

On another note, the RMI had the privilege of hosting the 30th meeting of the Port State Control Committee of the Tokyo MoU in Majuro in October 2019. “The amount of expertise brought forth and the professionalism exhibited by the attendees was impressive,” said Bill Gallagher. “We were honoured to have an opportunity to host this event focused on the safety, security, and environmental protection of the world’s fleet,” he continued. “The Marshall Islands is committed to the quality of inspections in the region,” he concluded.

Looking forward, the RMI Registry welcomes the Tokyo MoU’s move to enhance measures to inspect high risk and under-performing ships. As noted in the Report, “these inspections will focus on safety management systems implemented on board ships and familiarization and understanding of operational requirements by the crew.”