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Greece slides down Paris MoU white list rankings

Paris MoU WGB flags 2023.jpg
The Paris MoU white and black lists for flag states have grown this year as new entrants joined the port state control rankings table.

The latest White, Grey and Black List from Paris MoU on port state control show winners and losers across flag states and Recognised Organisations (ROs) from 2023 data.

Denmark retained its top spot in the rankings, which are based on the number of inspections and detentions over 2021-2023, with 12 detentions from 1,250 inspections. The Netherlands takes second place, up from fourth in the previous year’s table. 

Italy took second place in last year’s results but are fifth this year, while Greece tumbled from third in 2022 with 5 detentions from 617 inspections to 13th in 2023 with 11 detentions from 618 inspections.

White list flags are considered quality organisations, with average performers making the grey list. The lowest ranked flag states are put on the black list, which comes with extra reporting requirements in some jurisdictions and a higher likelihood of inspection. 

The white list grew from 39 flags in 2022 to 42 in 2023, the grey list shrank by one to 17, and the black list expanded from nine flags to 12 in 2023. The increase in overall numbers reflects more organisations hitting the threshold of 30 inspections over a three year period. Jersey (UK) and Canada both joined the white list, Tunisia and Bangladesh joined the grey list, and Vietnam entered the table on the black list.

Cameroon remained dead last at the bottom of the black list, joined this year by Tanzania in the Very High Risk category. Belize, Palau, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan slipped from the grey list to black. Sierra Leone and Albania both rose from the black list in 2022 to grey in 2023.

Latvia fell from white to grey, while Saudi Arabia and Croatia made the move up from grey to white.

China Classification Society jumped up the Paris MoU table of Recognised Organisations (RO) in the latest data, overtaking RINA, Korean Register and Lloyd’s Register to take third on the table behind DNV and first place ABS.

Just 11 ROs reached Paris MoU’s High performance level in 2021-2023 compared to 14 in the 2020-2022 tables. Panama Maritime Documentation Services, Bulgarian Register of Shipping, and International Naval Surveys Bureau all slipped down to the Medium performance level. 

Panama Shipping Registrar Inc. was joined by Hellas Naval Bureau of Shipping SMPC in the Low category.

The latest lists will be used from 1 July 2024 through 30 June, 2025.