The number of falsely flagged ships has surged as fraudsters exploit poorly funded maritime authorities to keep sanctioned and substandard vessels in service during high-earning periods of geopolitical turmoil.
More than 220 vessels are listed as falsely flagged on the International Maritime Organization’s registers, with sanctions and international conflict adding impetus to the use of deceptive shipping practices.
The abuse of the system has seen ships using forged documents to suggest they are flagged with a bona fide registry, or vessels using one of the increasing number of fictitious registries that fail to carry out checks on ships and their owners.
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