Os negócios das Bandeiras...

Li hoje esta notícia com aroma a comunicado de imprensa relativamente aos sucessos do registo de navios da Madeira, que tem vindo a aumentar a sua penetração junto de navios de propriedade europeia. Isto numa fase em que o registo Mar foi classificado como cinzento pelo MOU de Paris e a bandeira portuguesa sofre as consequências dos cortes cegos no Estado, nomeadamente nos organismos oficiais ligados aos transportes marítimos.
O último relatório do Paris MOU em Port State Control colocou Portugal de volta à lista cinzenta, sendo com a Bulgária um dos dois únicos Estados membros da União Europeia em tal situação. Para além desta classificação extremamente embaraçosa e desagradável, Portugal também não faz parte da lista de “low risk countries” pois trata-se do único Estado Membro do Paris MoU e da Área Económica Europeia que não se submeteu à auditoria IMO VIMSAS - Voluntary IMO Member State Audit Scheme. A manter-se esta situação será uma questão de tempo até a bandeira portuguesa deixar de ser reconhecida internacionalmente.

Voltando ao Registo Mar, refira-se que este segundo registo português foi "inventado" pela antiga Associação Portuguesa dos Armadores da Marinha Mercante no final da década de 1980, em plena fase de desmantelamento dos transportes marítimos portugueses, por forma a trazer para a bandeira portuguesa os navios ligados a operadores portugueses embandeirados em registos de conveniência, essencialmente por terem sido adquiridos em regimes "leasing" e os financiadores estrangeiros exigirem uma bandeira que lhes desse primazia nas hipotecas. Nasceu assim o MAR em 1989, inaugurado pelo navio DIOGO BERNARDES da Portline. O MAR desenvolveu-se como registo de conveniência à medida que os navios de propriedade portuguesa foram sendo vendidos e hoje traduz uma actividade internacional em concorrência com outras outras bandeiras mais abertas, caso de Malta e Chipre no seio da UE, ou as Bahamas, a Libéria ou o Panamá numa perspectiva mais internacional: uma actividade económica que gerará alguns empregos e receitas para a Zona Franca da Madeira, mas que pouco tem a ver com a realidade da marinha mercante portuguesa, ou, melhor, o seu desaparecimento, numa terra em que se brincou aos navios e ainda se brinca com bandeiras. Claro que nada disto é politicamente correcto, mas a economia de casino mundializada funciona assim. Entretanto deixo-vos o "press release do MAR":

Portugal’s second shipping register, the International Shipping Register of Madeira (MAR), is currently the strongest-growing flag in Europe. In the last six months, MAR’s fleet has increased by more than 60 new vessels representing net growth of 130% in terms of tonnage. Among the new entrants to the register are vessels owned by more than 20 of Germany’s leading companies. The remarkable growth has been achieved since Sociedade de Desenvolvimento da Madeira (SDM), the official body responsible for promoting MAR, established a strategic partnership with European Mar Lda (Euromar) in Funchal and Hamburg, run by former Liberian Registry executives Dr Albrecht Gundermann and Captain JörgMolzahn. “MAR’s exceptional growth rate compares most favourably with other European registries and reflects the work and attention to detail the register has undertaken in cooperation with Euromar,” says Roy Garibaldi, Executive Senior Manager at SDM. “Thanks to the political support that is provided to make the register more competitive and to the robust addition of young, high quality vessels flying the Portuguese flag, MAR’s future is extremely positive and the register is firmly on course to move from strength to strength,” Mr Garibaldi adds.

The growth achieved over the last six months is also remarkable given that the register was listed temporarily on the Paris MOU Grey List due to problems two years ago. “This was the unfortunate consequence of one insolvent owner suffering six detentions and the company in question no longer operates vessels under the Portuguese flag,” says Mr Garibaldi. 

The Paris MOU does not display data on the existing quality of ships flying the Portuguese flag and without the six incidents MAR would not have been statistically downgraded. MAR responded urgently to the temporary listing by immediately instituting policies thoroughly evaluating tonnage before registration and performing highly detailed pre-inspections on vessels older than 15 years seeking to join the register. “Registers with a small fleet are more in danger of suffering a statistical downgrade, as shown by the way that a single company affected us,” says Mr Garibaldi. “The most effective remedy to this is the strong growth which MAR has achieved recently and it is only a matter of a short period of time before MAR is restored to the Paris MOU White List, where it has been for many years.”

Significantly, the temporary listing has had no effect on Portuguese flag ships because international Port State Control (PSC) regimes have rules and practices in such circumstances which do not differentiate between White and Grey-listed flags. “And owners operating under other European Union flags who have been targeted by US Coast Guard in previous years and ships flying other EU flags which have been on the Tokyo MOU Grey List have also confirmed that there are no practical disadvantages from such temporary statistical evaluation,” says Mr Garibaldi.“Clearly, it was daunting and most challenging to be listed temporarily by the Paris MOU because of one single owner. But MAR faced the consequences and took immediate and the necessary actions and clearly the measures will be paying off.” Further strong growth is expected over the course of the next few years, coming mostly from German owners but also from Greece, France and Norway. The registry will soon start offering broad services online to match.

Texto comentado e imagens /Text and images copyright L.M.Correia. Favor não piratear. Respeite o meu trabalho / No piracy, please. For other posts and images, check our archive at the right column of the main page. Click on the photos to see them enlarged. Thanks for your visit and comments. Luís Miguel Correia