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Focus on Panama
The latest news and developments from Panama, one of the world’s most important shipping nations.
Panama takes action against vessels evading sanctions
The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) has affirmed it will automatically cancel the registration of any vessel found to be involved in illicit activities or changing flag to evade sanctions.
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Credit: Pete Linforth - Pixabay
The clarification follows the recent inclusion of seven Panama-flagged vessels on the US’ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list. The ships were involved in shipping of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas to Syria and East Asia on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and Hezbollah, said the OFAC list.
Panama has adopted a series of measures for avoiding having vessels included in lists of sanctions, among them:
The Monitoring and Control Section was moved to a protection department more aligned with its functions, to the Department of Maritime Vessel Security that keeps a close look the activities of international sanctions and the surveillance of the merchant fleet.
In September 2024, it published the ‘Panama Flag Precheck Process’, a circular establishing pre-requisites for flagging and allowing due diligence to be carried out on the ship, the owner, and its operator.
Panama signed the Registry Information Sharing Agreement (RISC) to prevent a ship from moving from one registry to another, trying to evade compliance with the imposed sanctions.
The AMP’s General Directorate of Merchant Marine that oversees the Ship Registry, is assessing additional measures allowing expeditious cancellation of registration for Panama-flagged vessels with proven links to illicit activities.
There are legal mechanisms used to de-flag vessels included in the lists of sanctions such as the Merchant Marine General Law, article 49, that establishes ex officio causes for de-flagging when the vessel is used for smuggling, illegal trade, and piracy, among other crimes.
The Panama Ship Registry will not negotiate with those wanting to use it improperly and will apply legal mechanisms to act according to due process and legal certainty, said the AMP statement.
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