Flag of convenience scheme retired
Thu, 1 September 2016
Kali Kotoski

The days of cocaine smuggling, illegal fishing and human trafficking using ships bearing the Cambodian flag appear to have come to an end as government officials claim that, as of today, all foreign-owned ships operating through Cambodia’s “flag of convenience” scheme must be stripped of their designation, and the world’s ports should no longer grant them access.

Following a 2015 decision to close down the business loophole, which allows foreign-owned merchant ships to avoid restrictions and financial charges in their home countries, foreign-owned ships will no longer be allowed to fly the Cambodian flag, a Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) official said yesterday...

The Kingdom’s flag of convenience scheme has routinely come under scrutiny over the last 20 years, with Cambodian-flagged vessels implicated in illegal fishing activities and caught in a string of drugs and weapons busts in the early 2000s.

In perhaps the best-known of these cases, the Cambodian-registered North Korean ship Song Sang was intercepted in 2002 by American and Spanish naval forces in the Indian Ocean.
While the ship’s manifest stated it was transporting cement to Yemen, an examination revealed 15 Scud missiles, 23 tanks of nitric acid rocket propellant and 85 drums of unidentified chemicals hidden beneath the bags of cement...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/f ... me-retired

Gotta give a big Monrovia.. how bout you. Panama.. what ye say? There are many many FOC countries many in the Caribe. In addition to supplying terrorist countries with arms they abuse merchant mariners on an ever escalating scale. Complainants are prone to fall victim to overboard situation. A significant proportion are Pinoy. A shitty bizness. Ah so goes the world of bidness. Life is truly the cheapest commodity the world produces.

More than a year after the above announcement...


Vessels still flying Cambodia flag
29 September 2017
- It has been a year since the government rescinded its notorious flags of convenience scheme yet foreign-owned ships appear to be flying the Cambodian flag with impunity, raising questions about whether the government has the resolve to fully abandon the controversial practice that allows merchant ships to avoid restrictions and financial charges in their home countries.

Data compiled from maritime tracking sites show at least 19 foreign-owned merchant ships flagged as Cambodian were operational within the last three months, with many of them showing movement within the last week. The vessels – ranging from yachts to ferries and cargo ships – have been operating in the waters near China, Indonesia and the Philippines, and as far afield as off the coast of Saudi Arabia...

As recently as September 20, a maritime tracking site picked up the transponder signal of the now-infamous Jie Shun cargo ship, which appeared to be floating almost dead in the water off the coast of China near North Korean territorial waters and still registered under a Cambodian flag.
The freighter was last recorded in Egyptian waters in August 2016, where it was intercepted en route from North Korea and found to be carrying 30,000 North Korean-made PG-7 rocket-propelled grenades and related components in its hold.

A report on a United Nations investigation published earlier this year claimed that North Korea’s use Cambodia’s flag was a flagrant violation that allowed the rogue state to dodge sanctions...
Full article: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/v ... bodia-flag

voacambodia.com/a/cambodia-denies-flag-of-convenience-on-north-korea-vessel/4054722.html

Luigi wrote: voacambodia.com/a/cambodia-denies-flag-of-convenience-on-north-korea-vessel/4054722.html

Here's the link :
https://www.voacambodia.com/a/cambodia- ... 54722.html

PHNOM PENH — Following a report on Monday that a North Korean ship flying Cambodian colors had been seized with a huge cache of weapons, the Cambodian government has denied its flag of convenience, saying that it completely stopped this business in 2016.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Denies Country's Connection with Vessel Carrying North Korean Weapons
3 October 2017
The Cambodian Foreign Minister on International Cooperation stated on October 3 2017 that the Cambodian government had nothing to do with the Jie Shun vessel bearing the Cambodian flag carrying 30,000 tonnes of missiles originating from North Korea.

A similar incident happened in 2016 August when 30,000 missiles were found in a vessel bearing the Cambodian flag that was passing through the Suez Canal bound for Egypt.

The Cambodian foreign minister pointed out that the vessel had been deregistered since 2015 Aug 17 but for the ship owner's benefit it was allowed to bear the Cambodian flag until the end of 2016 Aug. This incident was in contravention with international shipping laws and will face consequences at international law. In the mean time the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs have removed the names of 3 other vessels belonging to a North Korean company from the Port Register.
http://cn.thekhmerdaily.com/article/19438

Nothing if not persistent: North Korean exploitation of Fijian and Cambodian flags at sea
by Catherine Dill | August 11, 2020
Guest post by Jake Hulina
Jake Hulina is a research assistant at CNS and an undergraduate student at Middlebury College. His research interests include missile proliferation, geospatial analysis, and maritime tracking.

Due to North Korea’s continuing pursuit of nuclear weapons and advanced delivery systems, the United Nations Security Council has placed comprehensive sanctions on North Korean trade, restricting the financing of North Korea’s proliferation and sanctions evasion activities. Key to these efforts are the restrictions placed on North Korean shipping.

In spite of these restrictions, North Korean ships continue to engage in global trade, often using deceptive techniques to obscure their true national affiliation. Frequently, such deception involves either fraudulent flag use – the use of falsified documents to claim a country’s nationality without authorization – or the utilization of a flag of the convenience. North Korean linked-entities have exploited the flags of the Republic of Fiji and the Kingdom of Cambodia in such a manner.

Fiji operates a closed maritime registry, open only to boats that operate within Fijian waters. However, in 2017, the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji reported to the International Maritime Organization a total of 91 vessels fraudulently claiming the Fijian flag. Of these, at least 20 were affiliated with North Korea.

Historically, Cambodia has operated an open maritime registry. This enabled foreign-owned ships to register with the country for use of its flag. However, in 2016 the Cambodian Ministry of Public Works and Transport closed its maritime registry following numerous instances of Cambodian flagged vessels partaking in nefarious activities, including North Korean sanctions evasion.

Despite the efforts of Cambodia and Fiji, North Korean vessels have continued to exploit their flags by manipulating their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders – devices designed for improving navigational safety. AIS transponders transmit a series of unique vessel identifiers among other physical and geographic characteristics. Of these unique identifiers, the Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number – specifically the first three digits – is used to convey a vessel’s national affiliation. By altering this number, a vessel can claim any number of national affiliations without the knowledge or authorization of the countries affected. North Korean MMSI manipulation not only enables vessels to conceal illicit trade, but may also lead to reputational harm for the exploited states as it implicates them in activities they had no part in.

This potential for illicit trade and reputational harm, at least with regards to Cambodia and Fiji, is illustrated in the following three cases based on AIS data from IHS Markit.
Continue reading here: https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive ... gs-at-sea/