Recently arresting Iranian oil ship on water corridor of Jabal Tariq has raised several questions. The most significant is about the directions of the ship which Britain and Jabal Tariq region confirmed that the Ship was planned to go to Syria with one million barrels of oil in order to transfer to Syria. But this information has been refused by Iranian authorities.
Gris One Ship is the one which arrested by Jabal Tariq authorities on July 4, 2019, quickly Iran declared it’s their own. “The direction of the ship was not for Syria” they added.
The most important thing we have heard after any disasters or accidents is “the ship hold the flag of that country?”, this statement is used with most of the ship accidents. This question is special for the owner of the ship.
The ship which has been arrested by Britain held Panama flag while Panama has not built the ship and even is not owned the ship, therefore why Iranian ship held Panama flag?
Day after on July 5, 2019 Panama declared that since June 29, 2019 they deleted Gris one on their registrations.
Regards to the answer of our main question: Why trading Ships are holding many special country’s flags? While they are not built the ship and not the owner of, even they are small states, why among these countries Panama, Marshal Channels and Libra came at first and their flags shake on ships?
International laws:
According to international laws, every ship must register it in sovereignty countries. Any ships that have been registered in country, the country become “country flag”.
Registration ships will make Commitments to country flags by protecting its teams and other passengers, goods and keeping ecology.
For this reason the ship owners depend on special country for registration their ships because the process of registration is much easier in these countries. Moreover the owners seek for countries that process of hire labor is easy and cheap.
This law works since second tens of twenty century which allow ships to register itself in a country that doesn’t created by them. They are the third country in the process. This has been thinking on when US ship owners looking for Panama in order to register their ships for behalf of escaping in expensive taxes in US.
Another reason of depending on this law is to hide the real owner of the ship and for behalf for making easier the process of transferring its goods.
At recent situation of Iran it has benefits for them because they can find buyers easily particularly the American eyes are not monitoring on those which hold other countries’ flags.