Flagging-up The UK Ship Register s quarterly newsletter Issue # 26
Welcome to the 26 th edition of Flagging-up; the UK Ship Register s quarterly newsletter. Covered in this issue: UK Flag statistics London International Shipping Week UK Shipping Minister promotes UK flag in Singapore UKSR presentation to Greek shipping audience UKSR attends German EU flag forum UKSR pushes new build message to Chinese yards ICS flag state performance table New flag-ins Application forms Maritime passenger rights Inmarsat B ISM reminder for PSC
UK Flag statistics During the last quarter 12 ships joined the UK Ship Register (UKSR) with a combined gross tonnage of 158,875 GT. Of these new registrations seven were new builds, whilst the remainder transferred in from other flags. Companies registering ships with the UKSR during the last quarter include Zodiac, Northern Marine, Gulf Offshore, Rio Tinto and Knutsen Shuttle Tankers. As at the end of January 2014 the UK Ship Register stands at 1,365 ships with a gross tonnage of 15.04 million. According to Clarkson s World Fleet Monitor the UK is the 12th largest register in the world. The average age of the UK fleet at the end of 2013 was 20.3 years.
London International Shipping Week Following the success of the inaugural London International Shipping Week last year, preparations are already underway for the 2015 event. For further information and details of the launch event in September 2014, please go to the LISW website.
UK Shipping Minister promotes UK flag in Singapore Following recent visits by the UKSR to promote the UK flag in Singapore, the Shipping Minister, Stephen Hammond MP hosted a lunch at the British High Commission for Singaporean shipping companies. He was accompanied by Tom Borland (National Director Business Delivery Survey & Inspection) and Debasis Mazumdar (Head of UKSR). Representatives from 15 companies had the opportunity to listen to the benefits of UK ship registration. A further seven meetings were held during the week to promote the UK flag. Emergency Response and Rescue Vessel (EERV) Shipping Company Sentinel Marine, which was established in 2011 in Singapore and now has offices in Singapore and Aberdeen announced that their eight multi-role ERRV s being built will be registered with the UK Ship Register. Tom Borland, Stephen Hammond and Debasis Mazumdar
UKSR attends German EU flag forum In February the Verban Deutscher Reeder (VDR) organised an EU Flag forum in Hamburg and Leer. The event enabled the UK plus a selection of other EU flags to promote their registers to a large German based shipping sector. This sector currently has the need to re-flag a significant percentage of their fleets to EU flags to meet present tonnage tax conditions. At the forums each flag gave a short overview presentation followed by one to one meetings. The UK emphasised its key message of offering a service which delivered Quality, Responsiveness and Value for Money and was well received by industry. Head of the UKSR, Debasis Mazumdar said The UK Flag currently has a strong presence in Germany and we are looking to build on this in the near future. The UK offers clients one of the best flag options for EU Owners, with its strong position on Paris and Tokyo MoU White Lists, Qualship 21 and ICS performance table we can honestly say we are the Flag of Choice for Europe.
UKSR pushes new build message to Chinese yards In December UKSR attended Marintec, which is the largest international shipping exhibition held in Asia. The main aim of this visit was to explain to ship yards that it is not onerous to build vessels to UK requirements. The Head of UKSR Debasis Mazumdar said There has been a previous misconception within ship building, more so in China, that it is more expensive and difficult to build ships to UK Flag. The UK wants to clarify this misunderstanding and make it quite clear that it only requires vessels to be built to international standards i.e. SOLAS, MARPOL etc and that there is no longer any gold plating of these international requirements. Mr Mazumdar went on to add The UK is pleased to confirm there are several new build programmes currently underway in China with the largest being the ACL container ro-ro vessels with delivery starting from 2015. The UK also had many new build programmes in Japan, Korea and the Philippines which clearly shows the UK can be the Flag of Choice when vessels are to be constructed. With representatives from Jiangbei Shipyard Co Ltd.
UKSR presentation to Greek shipping audience The presentation was attended by a targeted audience of representatives from the Greek shipping community as well as other maritime professionals. Opening the presentation, Her Majesty s Ambassador Mr John Kittmer acknowledged the strong shipping links between the UK and Greece and expressed his confidence on the potential of further collaboration. He said: The UK and Greece can work more closely together and develop our relationship and interests further. Perhaps we can start to think of Piraeus and London as a truly integrated maritime cluster. After the presentation the speakers talked with Greek delegates, answering their questions and providing guidance as required. British Ambassador to Greece, John Kittmer
ICS flag state performance table In the latest flag state performance table issued by the International Chamber of Shipping, the UK has once again come top. The UK is amongst the 12 flag states to meet all the assessment criteria which take into account Port State Control records, ratification of conventions and IMO attendance.
New flag-ins Ever Lenient Hilda Knutsen Evergreen flagged-in their latest container ship in February 2014; the 8,452 TEU vessel was built by Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea. Knutsen OAS Shipping has recently flagged in three oil tankers, bringing their total to nine ships and more than doubling their UK flagged gross tonnage to 382,292 GT.
Application forms Some of our application forms have been revised. Please visit the UKSR website to ensure you have the latest version. Inmarsat B Inmarsat has recently advised IMSO that the retirement date of Inmarsat-B has been extended by two years from 30 December 2014 to 30 December 2016. Maritime Passenger Rights On the 1 January 2014 the voluntary complaint handling body for ferries in England and Wales changed from CLIA UK & Ireland to ABTA Ltd. CLIA will continue to be the voluntary complaint handling body for the cruise industry in England and Wales. CLIA kindly agreed to undertake both roles, after the Passenger Shipping Association ceased to exist, whilst a replacement was found for the ferry sector. It is welcome news that ABTA have agreed to fulfil this function and their contact details will be circulated via a new MGN. ISM fact sheet Here is a reminder of the procedure to handle ISM deficiencies during a PSC inspection under the new inspection regime.
Forthcoming events Next newsletter Posidonia June 2014 LISW launch September 2014 Our next newsletter will be issued in June 2014. If you would like to amend your contact details, add colleagues to the newsletter distribution list or have any general feedback then please email us. Tel: +44 (0)23 8032 9197 Fax: +44 (0)23 8032 9447 Email: ukshipregister@mcga.gov.uk Web: www.dft.gov.uk/mca/uksr Duty Surveyor: +44(0) 7810 528 504