Page 122 - ΝΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΧΡΟΝΙΚΑ - ΣΕΠΤΕΜΒΡΙΟΣ 2022

INTERNATIONAL FORA

The PANAMA Ship Registry has grown by 9.6% in tonnage, adding 20.4M GT between July
2019 and July 2022. It now has a total of 239.4M GT in tonnage capacity. According
to IHS Markit, in July 2022, the Panamanian fleet comprised 8,587 vessels.

PANAMA

Information According to Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) sta- International competitiveness, the dynamic and
submitted by: tistics, this year alone, the flag had grown by 1.39% changing nature of the global shipping sector and
Panama Maritime
Authority (or 3.9M GT) and recorded 27% fleet retention by the businesses in the State of Panama related to the
end of July, representing a significant improvement Panamanian Ship Registry require a national strat-
on the 10% retention rate at end-2021. During the egy based on clear and transparent legislation that
same period, it also recorded a 9.3% decrease in contributes to the sustainable development of its
cancellations due to a shipowner or operating com- operations.
pany’s decision to transfer vessels to other registries. The Ship Registry (under the Directorate General of
Clarksons Research data shows that in July 2019, Merchant Marine) has established a series of perfor-
when the new AMP administration had taken over, mance indicators to measure its productivity and the
the Panama Ship Registry was showing negative efficiency and quality of its operational processes
growth (-2.7%), which required an immediate change and services. Since 2020, the net GT growth goal
of strategy as the figures were very discouraging. has been achieved by 68%, while the goals of gross
But by May 2020, almost a year later, the Registry growth in ship numbers and gross growth in GT have
booked positive figures, finishing the year with 3.9% been fully met.
growth and a 10.4M GT increase in tonnage. The AMP has prioritised the revision and update of
The new administration has been analysing the global Law 57, one of the legal frameworks on which the
shipping industry and monitoring the statistics of the administration of the Panamanian fleet is based.
Panama Registry and its competitors. This process began in 2020 and continues in con-
sultation with the Panama Maritime Law Association
(PMLA-APADEMAR). Law 57 was part of a strategy
aimed at maintaining the leading position held by
Panamanian shipping since 1993 and increasing its
competitiveness.
In addition to working on the General Law on the
Merchant Marine revision and changes, the AMP,
together with the General Directorate of Merchant
Marine, the General Directorate of Seafarers, and
the General Directorate of the Public Registry of
Ship Ownership has been working on increasing the
competitiveness of the Panamanian flag.
The above actions reflect the administration’s faith-
ful implementation of the national strategy based
on four fundamental pillars: process reengineering,
technological innovation, international compliance,
and improvement of customer-oriented services.
They have improved fleet compliance by purging the
Panama Ship Registry of non-compliant ships, exer-

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