Compliance on Fire Safety Measures among Ships from Flags of Convenience Countries in Malaysian Ports

Abstract

This study aims to identify the trends and performance of the top five Flags of Convenience (FOC) or open registries comprising of Panama, Marshall Island, Liberia, Malta and Bahamas as compared to the top five traditional flag states or non-FOC registries, which are Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Greece and Japan in term of their compliance to the Fire Safety (Code 7) requirements. The focus on fire safety is important since fire is known to be one of the greatest risks to safety on board ships. The outcome of this study has shown that although various measures have been taken by the international community through the introduction of stricter regulations and additional enforcement initiatives through the port state control regime, the standard produced by ships belonging to the FOC countries is still significantly lower than the standard produced by ships of the non-FOC.