Flags. Identifying them used to be one my favourite past-times. Especially on boats. I loved seeing new ones and trying to guess where they came from.I remember making the connection that big super yachts often flied Panama or Malta flags. I just assumed they were super rich there, until one day the concept of tax evasion was explained to me. I had also often seen people on boats where the language they spoke didn’t match up the flag . I remember finding it so weird to wanting to fly a flag ( have your boat registered ) in a country different than your own.. and that many of those were Belgian or Dutch flags. I soon learnt that it is much easier, that there are less rules to obey and less bureaucracy. They are call convenience flags and the name just says it all.. And this story is just for pleasure crafts
It was obvious that if this was happening in private lives then it could also be happening in business . And apparently more than half of all merchant ships in the world are registered under flags of convenience, and according to some statistics 90% of all commercial marine vessels calling on US ports are under foreign flags.... Since often choosing a flag state means minimizing costs to maximize the revenue, for , let’s say, a cruise ship owner, making this choice means making a choice between good business and not so good business... and we all know that money govern it all. Now, You would say, aside from some nationalisms going on, what’s the problem ? Well. Tax evasion in primis is one of the leading causes of disparity and poverty , so there is that . But the issues go much deeper than that Scrapping. Yes , most ships owned by EU and USA (but flying such ‘convenience flags’ ) end up being scrapped in Bangladesh, India , Pakistan ... this way many environmental laws are actually violated , as scrapping in these countries is very often not done in an environmentally friendly way, or in a people friendly way. So not only the scraps end up being disposed of it badly, but also the people doing the scrapping are not sufficiently protected. Not only leading to unsustainability for the planet but also getting the disparity gap bigger and bigger... And the boats flying such fake flags are booming , you can read more on this nature article Do you see the issue now? And just out of the top of my head , often the ‘no profit’ refugees boats have some different flags than the organisation, which makes for some very confusing legal issues and making it seems not so much for a good cause and seeding doubts . Just saying ...
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