From Black-Grey-White Detention-based Lists of Flags to Black-Grey-White Casualty-based Lists of Categories of Vessels?

The Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris MoU) establishes each year in its annual report the traditional “Black-Grey-White” lists of flags. These tables are based on processed performances of flags over a 3-year period, showing the full spectrum between quality flags and flags with a poor performance. The performance of each flag is calculated by the Paris MoU on the basis of inspected and detained ships flying the considered flag, using binomial calculus. Furthermore, black listed flags are one of the criteria, among others, used by the Paris MoU for targeting vessels for their inspections. Using the same binomial calculation method as mentioned above but considering casualties instead of detentions and a multivariate approach instead of considering the flag only, it is possible to extend the Black-Grey-White lists of flags of the Paris MoU based on detentions, to Black-Grey-White lists of categories of vessels with regard to their observed casualties for a given period.At the time when a correspondence group has been set up by the Sub-Committee on Flag State Implementation of IMO for defining “objectives, framework of mechanisms and methodology for a study on the combination of casualty and Port State Control related data”, this paper has the ambition to provide a valuable contribution to the group in discussions on the case for the necessity of combining casualty data and PSC related data with a view to complement current processing of flag State performance and the targeting criteria for ships inspections.