Vessel Change Of Flag

Under maritime regulations, each merchant ship has to be registered with one country. While the UN Convention on the High Seas states that a vessel should have a “genuine’ link with its flag state, current rules permit ships to sail under any flag regardless of their ownership. This is known as a ‘flag of convenience.’

‘If you’ve got a credit card, and you’ve got 15 minutes, you can re-register your ship under any flag you want,’ said University of Plymouth maritime logistics policy professor Michael Roe, as reported by CNN.