Liberian Registry chief executive Scott Bergeron says the joke is on Nautilus International after the union poked fun at the shipping flag’s 70th-anniversary celebrations.
Nautilus International general secretary Mark Dickinson, writing on Twitter as @Mdickinson1262, tweeted his thoughts on the registry’s anniversary poster, printed to coincide with Posidonia. The poster proclaims: “All flags are not alike.”
“Cracking bit of ironic marketing by the Liberian registry,” Dickinson wrote. “Indeed not all flags are alike. Some comply with international law requiring genuine link #UNCLOS some do not. @ITFglobalunion maintains a list for those unsure and has also been campaigning for that link for 70 years.”
The link he refers to is the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requirement for a “genuine link” between a ship and the country representing it as a flag state.
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has been running a campaign against flags of convenience (FOCs). It wants to have a genuine link between the flag a ship flies and the nationality or residence of its owners, managers and seafarers.
It believes in national flags, whereby a vessel is registered in the country in which the shipowner is located. The ITF, of which Nautilus is an affiliate, has a list of FOCs that includes Liberia.
But Bergeron, whose Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry manages the flag, hit back, accusing Dickinson of not having done his homework.
Bergeron said numerous court rulings determining the interpretation of “genuine link” had shown that Liberia meets UNCLOS’ requirement through Liberian corporate ownership of Liberian-flag vessels and by the country having effective regulatory oversight of vessels under its flag.
“Unfortunately for the ITF’s efforts, they have lost every legal challenge to this concept, to the point that case law is so overwhelmingly in favour of genuine link having been met that subsequent legal cases are stopped short,” he told TradeWinds.
The IMO has backed case law concluding that “genuine link” refers to the “ability of the flag state to effectively exercise jurisdiction over ships flying its flag”, he said.
“Like the Liberian registry itself, the ITF’s FOC campaign is 70 years old. They have made hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars extorting money from shipowners who legally use effective quality flags like Liberia,” Bergeron added.
“The FOC campaign has lost all legal challenges and misplays their tired and flawed argument of genuine link, without actually understanding its meaning in the context of UNCLOS. Meanwhile, more than 75% of the world fleet have adopted use of open registers. Perhaps it is time for the ITF to #MoveOn.”
