RANKING OF FLAG STATES

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Ranking of flag states and classification societies: „White list, Grey list, Black list and Performance list"

During many port state control inspections deficiencies of ships are discovered by the specially trained surveyors. Major deficiencies have to be rectified immediately. Occasionally port state control officers even have to detain a ship.
The results of all port state control inspections are collected and evaluated with regard to the performance of flag states and classification societies. Regularly published in form of lists, these „rankings“ reveal to the public whether ships flying a certain flag or classed by a certain classification society are notorious for frequent deficiencies or have a more satisfactory record.

Ranking of flag states

The ranking of flag states is based on the following three different lists:

• The „White list“ contains only flag states of ships which have given , no or little cause for concern.
• The „Grey list“ contains flag states with an average performance.
• The „Black list“ contains flag states of ships which have shown an excessive number of ship safety deficiencies.

Each year these lists are newly established. The ranking is calculated by relating the number of detentions to the number of inspections over the previous three years.

Ranking of classification societies

The ranking of classification societies is determined by the number of deficiencies which have caused detentions of ships and which could have been prevented with a correct survey by the responsible classification society. The ranking of classification societies is published with the annual "RO performance table" (RO = recognized organization) of the Paris MoU.

Implications of rankings

The rankings of a flag state and of a classification society have major implications for the inspection and the targeting of ships subjected to port state control. Ships flying the flag of a „blacklisted“ flag state and/or classed by a low ranking classification society are inspected more frequently and more thoroughly.