Why do one in ten ships fly tiny Liberia’s flag?

is on the rocks. The aid money that held the country steady after its brutal civil wars is ebbing and inflation has surged to more than 25%. Many businesses are struggling to stay afloat. But one industry seems to be weathering the storm: shipping.of just $2.1bn, has one of the largest seagoing fleets in the world. Over 4,400 vessels fly its flag. And the number is growing.The secret of this maritime success is an old practice known as the flag of convenience.

But two civil wars in the 1990s and 2000s hit the registry hard. Charles Taylor, the president from 1997 to 2003, used some of the $20m a year generated by the registry to pay arms dealers. His bloody reputation prompted many shipowners to switch to Panama. When the fighting ended in 2003, its registry was more than twice the size of Liberia’s.

Liberia is striving to win back the ships it lost. Last year it renewed an agreement with China that makes it easier and cheaper to ship products into Chinese ports under a Liberian flag. The groundwork for that deal was laid in 2003, when Liberia dropped Taiwan and recognised China. Efforts are paying off: measured by gross tonnage, Liberia’s fleet grew by 8% in 2018.

Ordinary Liberians still see few benefits from the country’s vast fleet. The state wastes much of the revenue generated by the registry . Ships don’t often call at Monrovia, the capital, a ghostly place littered with rusting hulks. On bad days the wrecks outnumber container ships.section of the print edition under the headline

Blume_Life You can add Off Shore drilling rigs to the list. The ‘Deep Water Horizon’ was registered in Murutania for similar reasons

Standards are low

FIRST GLANCE IT LOOKS LIKE THE AMERICAN FLAG

BECAUSE OF THE FEES AND RESTRICTIONS

Because people act as they do but talk to keep appearances

The World Society should take initiativ to go against this. Its the usual habit with big companies avoiding tax in their home countries. Same system for IT companies. Shame om them.

Never heard of flags of convenience?😂

internationalDelaware taxCheats fuckingcapitalists

Ships run Liberia's flag for the trafficking of slave labor, weapons for instability, and illicit narcotics.

became greedy corporations like it

Welcome to the shipping industry, guys. It’s only been so for a few decades.

alllibertynews Taxes...simple

Once again the Economist is way out of touch with journalism. Liberia is no longer 'war-ravaged'. Democracy has been restored and they could become the most progressive state in Africa if given a chance.

wow

Money. Money. Money.

THESE FLAGS ARE IN BAD SHAPE. LAZY CAPTAINS WONT FLY US OF A FLAG BECAUSE THEYD HAVE TO FOLLOW USA FLAG CODE

Makes perfect sense. Fly a flag of a country who's laws you can buy. The vessel is a floating part of the country it sails under.

खिताब पहले टरकी के पास था हर शीप को अपनी प्रथम यात्रा कहीं करनी पड़ती है भारत में शिप केवल टूटने के लिए आते हैं , विश्व में लगभग प्रथम स्थान

Have we not known this since, like, forever? Noah's fucking ark probably sailed under a Liberian flag.

Really 🤔

I wish I could fly a 'flag of convenience.'

So many rust buckets

Wow! What a loss. War is never the answer to any problem esp. senseless wars.

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