FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(July 10, 2007)

International Registries, Inc. (IRI), the Maritime and Corporate Administrator of the Republic of the Marshall Islands learned of its continued United States Coast Guard (USCG) Qualship 21 status last week. This marks the third consecutive year that the Marshall Islands Registry has maintained its listing status with the USCG’s Qualship 21 initiative.

The Qualship 21 program was initiated by the USCG in January 2001 to motivate the industry to eliminate substandard shipping. This initiative provides positive rewards to high-quality ships from qualifying registries. These rewards range from a two-year certificate of compliance for tankers with less thorough mid-period exams to two years of limited Port State Control (PSC) oversight for freighters. In addition, qualified passenger ships receive public recognition for achieving this status.

As one of the leading open registries in the world, this is a significant boost for the Marshall Islands as only one other top five open registry has ever been eligible for Qualship 21 status and this eligibility was not sustained for more than one year.

“We’ve always stated that PSC is the major grading mechanism for flag states. By continuing to maintain our USCG Qualship 21 status, the benefits of flagging with the Marshall Islands continue to extend to shipowners, operators and charterers that are actively trading with the United States,” said Bill Gallagher, President of IRI.

With an average growth rate of 20% since 2001 in terms of gross tonnage, the Marshall Islands Registry closed the second quarter with over 1500 vessels at 36.2 million gross tons.

http://homeport.uscg.mil/mycg/portal/ep/home.do
Click on Port State Control on the left of the page
Click on Foreign Vessel Safety (Under Port State Control)
Click on Qualship 21 Initiative