TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan has made a blacklist of 52 Chinese-owned ships which it will monitor and inspect to combat a burgeoning “shadow fleet,” Financial Times reported on Monday.
These cargo ships are usually owned by offshore companies to avoid sanctions, according to FT. They are registered under the flags of countries that fail to enforce regular safety inspections. The number of dark fleet vessels has grown to about a fifth of the world's fleet.
The move comes after a Chinese-owned vessel was suspected of cutting one of Taiwan’s undersea cables this month.
The freighters on the list sail under the flags of Cameroon, Tanzania, Mongolia, Togo, and Sierra Leone. The owner companies are registered in China, Hong Kong, or Macau.
Taiwan is prioritizing these five countries because vessels from their flag register often have documentation issues, violate maritime safety or labor regulations, or circumvent sanctions, according to the Tokyo MOU.
“The cable-cutting incident reminded us of the risks posed by substandard vessels. It is a risk to all coastal states, and we must fulfill our responsibility as a port state,” a Taiwan Coast Guard Administration official said.