As of 1 July 2020, the fleet of ships under the flag of the Russian Federation numbers 1,155 cargo ships with a total deadweight of 7.7 million tonnes, Sergey Buyanov, General Director of Central Marine Research and Design Institute (CNIIMF), told IAA PortNews. According to him, “there have been virtually no dynamics for the recent 3-4 years”.
According to CNIIMF, 750 ships of them (total deadweight of 5.9 million tonnes) are registered by Russian International Register of Vessels (RIRV). RIRV numbers 1,440 ships with total deadweight of 6.76 million tonnes including non-cargo ships (support, fishing and river-going vessels). Russian-flagged support fleet currently numbers 1,137 units, fishing fleet – 1,058 units, research vessels - 72 units.
It should be reminded that in 2020 the flag of the Russian Federation was running the risk of shifting from the White list to the Grey list of the Paris MoU. However, Russia remained in Paris MOU’s White List. The lists took effect from the 1st of July 2020. They are based on the total number of inspections and detentions over a 3-year rolling period for flags with at least 30 inspections in the period. This year, a total number of 70 flags are listed: 41 on the “White List”, 16 on the “Grey List” and 13 on the “Black list”.
Russian Maritime Register of Shipping is also on the list of recognized organizations with high performance.
The situation has been commented for IAA PortNews by Aleksandr Mednikov, Executive Partner of law firm Jurinflot: “The flag rating decline is a problem particularly because it can cause a sort of chained response with the port state control procedure requiring more frequent inspections for flags with a lower rating. Consequently, more time is spent for inspections and the risk of detention is higher. It means additional losses for individual ship owners and makes Russian flag less attractive in the global market. So it will be more difficult to find work for ships, to raise funds, etc.”
Related link:
Russia remains in Paris MOU’s White List >>>>
Rosmorrechflot warns about Russia’s risk to move from White to Grey list of Paris MoU >>>>