The Panama Maritime Administration (PMA) says it has cancelled the registration of 73 vessels a 101others are going through the same legal process and that tough action is cutting the number of detentions.. The actions comes as part of drastic measures announced earlier this year to improve the the quality and detention record of the Panamanian flag after its inclusion last year inclusion in the Paris MOU black list.
In its latest newsletter the PMA says that detentions fell dramatically from 8% in January of this year to 5% at the end of October. Average detention rate was 9% in 2007, 8% in 2008 and fell to 6% for the period January to September 2009.
Panama imposed stringent requirements for ships older than 20 years which are now required to submit to a check by an inspector from a Recognized Organization before calling at a port within the Paris MOU. PMA says: “Any vessel failing to go through such inspection could be fined or deleted from the registry; additionally [the registration of] any 20 year-old vessel detained twice in six months will automatically be cancelled.
In its latest newsletter the PMA says that detentions fell dramatically from 8% in January of this year to 5% at the end of October. Average detention rate was 9% in 2007, 8% in 2008 and fell to 6% for the period January to September 2009.
Panama imposed stringent requirements for ships older than 20 years which are now required to submit to a check by an inspector from a Recognized Organization before calling at a port within the Paris MOU. PMA says: “Any vessel failing to go through such inspection could be fined or deleted from the registry; additionally [the registration of] any 20 year-old vessel detained twice in six months will automatically be cancelled.