

Why so many shipowners find Panama's flag convenient - tareqak
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-28558480

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chmars
Panama with the Panama Canal has at least significance in the maritime world
and a visiting Panama City is possible.

In the case of Liberia, the country has no relations to shipping and the ship
and as well as the corporate registry were given to an American company called
LISCR (Liberia Ship Corporate Registry Football) whose employees have probably
never been in Liberia's capital Monrovia … most Americans of course would not
want to spend any time in Liberia – too much crime and violence, and now there
is Ebola too.

In the banking world, the US is on a crusade against other offshore locations
such as Switzerland while protecting its own offshore locations. In the naval
world, on the other hand, the two major offshore locations – Liberia and
Panama – have already been under (at least) strong American influence.

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nn3
But then when it comes to serious issues, like the Somalian pirates crisis,
the ship owners suddenly want all the protection again that the tax dollars
they are not paying can buy.

All the benefits, none of the responsibility.

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jacquesm
But _everybody_ benefits from functioning shipping lanes. After all, if
shipping shuts down how will we keep wallmart stocket, no matter whose flag
those ships sail under.

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kyllo
The piracy only affects Asia-Europe lanes. Wal-Mart's imports are mainly
Transpacific and South American imports.

And the pirates also almost never hit container ships because their decks are
too high and they go too fast. Maersk Alabama was an anomaly, they were
actually transporting food aid to East Africa so they traveled much slower and
closer to Somalia.

The pirates mainly hit tanker/bulker and LNG ships.

I worked at a container line at the height of the piracy in 2009-2010 and
management was basically not concerned with it. The ships are insured anyway,
they just added an Aden Piracy Surcharge to Asia-Europe freight to cover the
premium increases.

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seanmcdirmid
There are wal-marts outside of the USA/North America, I'm sure you know.q

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kyllo
Sure, but the vast, vast majority of their freight is Asia -> US.

I work in the shipping/logistics industry and I assure you, Somalian piracy is
not a threat to Wal-Mart's supply chain. It's barely a blip on their radar. If
one container ship were hit and a few of their containers were on board it
would not hurt them financially, they have cargo insurance anyway. Storms at
sea are a much bigger risk factor, containers fall off of cargo ships in rough
seas surprisingly frequently, and voyages often get delayed by a few days due
to weather. Water damage due to holes in the shipping containers is also very
common. And delays at the port and rail hubs due to congestion. These factors
are all much bigger risks to Wal-Mart (or any major importer) than piracy is.

It's kinda like worrying about carjackings when an accidental collision is
probably thousands of times more likely to kill you.

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djloche
From what I understand, it is/was relatively easy to re-paint, name, and title
a boat in panama. This makes/made Panama a great place to take a boat that has
a less than fantastic history and give it a clean slate.

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6d0debc071
I wonder how it would work out to just have a rule in whatever country that if
you own a ship you had to register it there. Not change flags of convenience
for everyone, just make it illegal within the context of a specific nation to
use them.

