Ship Nationality, Flag States
and the Eradication of Substandard Ships:
A Critical Analysis
Reshmi Mukherjee
Abstract This chapter proposes to eliminate the notion of ship nationality and with
it, the flag states responsibility of supervision and enforcement of ships to ensure that
they are not substandard. It proposes that this can be achieved without sacrificing
safe, secure and environmentally friendly shipping. Although it is a radical proposition, and it may be perceived to be impossible to achieve in practice, it is submitted
that in theory at least, it is thought-provoking and may well have some merit. Several
issues are discussed including an analysis of the interrelationship between ship
nationality and registration. An examination of the notion of a substandard ship is
presented and it is pointed out that it is not simply a matter of regulatory maritime
law, but that there are important economic considerations as well. The discussion
extends to an analysis of the regimes of flag state, port state and coastal state
jurisdiction and their correlation in the context of substandard ships. In conclusion,
it is asserted that by removing the notion of ship nationality, substandard ships can
be eradicated by the use of other existing devices.
On the high seas, the territorial character impressed on the ship by its flag is a fiction as
accurate for purposes of jurisdiction as a fiction can ever be.
G. John Colombos (1967)—International Law of the Sea 6th Edition, p. 285,
quoting Westlake International Law—2nd Edition, Vol. I, p. 179.
1 Introduction
Ship nationality is a fiction of law; it is conferred on a ship through the process of
registration. Without nationality, a ship on the high seas would, metaphorically
speaking, be floating in a legal vacuum. Thus, in terms of law, nationality is
substantive whereas registration is procedural. Also, nationality in relation to
R. Mukherjee (*)
Legal Division, Powys Council, Brecon, Wales, UK
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
P. K. Mukherjee et al. (eds.), Maritime Law in Motion, WMU Studies in Maritime
Affairs 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31749-2_27
581
and the Eradication of Substandard Ships:
A Critical Analysis
Reshmi Mukherjee
Abstract This chapter proposes to eliminate the notion of ship nationality and with
it, the flag states responsibility of supervision and enforcement of ships to ensure that
they are not substandard. It proposes that this can be achieved without sacrificing
safe, secure and environmentally friendly shipping. Although it is a radical proposition, and it may be perceived to be impossible to achieve in practice, it is submitted
that in theory at least, it is thought-provoking and may well have some merit. Several
issues are discussed including an analysis of the interrelationship between ship
nationality and registration. An examination of the notion of a substandard ship is
presented and it is pointed out that it is not simply a matter of regulatory maritime
law, but that there are important economic considerations as well. The discussion
extends to an analysis of the regimes of flag state, port state and coastal state
jurisdiction and their correlation in the context of substandard ships. In conclusion,
it is asserted that by removing the notion of ship nationality, substandard ships can
be eradicated by the use of other existing devices.
On the high seas, the territorial character impressed on the ship by its flag is a fiction as
accurate for purposes of jurisdiction as a fiction can ever be.
G. John Colombos (1967)—International Law of the Sea 6th Edition, p. 285,
quoting Westlake International Law—2nd Edition, Vol. I, p. 179.
1 Introduction
Ship nationality is a fiction of law; it is conferred on a ship through the process of
registration. Without nationality, a ship on the high seas would, metaphorically
speaking, be floating in a legal vacuum. Thus, in terms of law, nationality is
substantive whereas registration is procedural. Also, nationality in relation to
R. Mukherjee (*)
Legal Division, Powys Council, Brecon, Wales, UK
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
P. K. Mukherjee et al. (eds.), Maritime Law in Motion, WMU Studies in Maritime
Affairs 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31749-2_27
581