Ex-Names
The many identities of cargo ships
Ex-Names aims to make more visible a common practice among vessel owners: the change of name
and register. Here are presented a selection of 10 vessels that changed identity very often in recent years,
listed until March 2019. Every ship has its identification number: why so many changes of names too?
www.cinziabongino.com/ex-names ↗
Ex-Names landing page
Investigating the world of shipping is like opening a Pandora’s box.
On one hand, is the perfect example of multiculturalism since a vessel can concentrate many different
nationalities in its 200-400 meters of length: for instance, the cargo can belong to an American company and
transported in Chinese containers, while the ship itself could have French owners, crewed by Indians, sailing
under the Panama flag and heading to an Italian port. On the other hand, the particular mix of identities
leads to confusion for which jurisdiction and law to apply if sailing in international waters. Several cases
of cabotage (transport of goods or people within the country’s borders by foreign ships), use of off-shore
registers (fewer restrictions, fees to pay and shipping inspections, with a consequent underpaid staff),
change of flag for trading, and so on, have been denounced through online news.
The situation is so complicated that even some States themselves have reported to the International Maritime
Organisation cases of fraudulent use of their flags or illegally registered ships, which were involved in
illicit activities. The IMO Secretariat is working on the implementation of measures to prevent unlawful
practices, which should be completed in 2021.
The total flags owned by the MSC Natasha from its first registration to 2019
Creating a "flag of flags" is a way to reconstruct the identity of a ship. By putting together the change of register (flag state) and name (ownership), it is possible to visualize the number of owners and countries of registration of the vessel. The length of each flag represents the timespan the ship sailed under specific jurisdiction.
MSC Natasha hull pictures
The vessel's name is painted usually on the hull, but it is not such an easy procedure if the ship changes name every day (or even more times during the same day). The data used in the projects come from the platform Marine Traffic: by clicking on "check the vessel" it is possible to compare the visual reconstruction with the historical information located under the Ex-Names History panel on Marine Traffic.
A clip from the movie "The Lord of War" with Nicolas Cage giving a very good example of a change of flag state.
The flag state is the jurisdiction under whose laws the vessel is registered or licensed, and is recognized as the nationality of the boat. The flag state has the authority and responsibility to enforce regulations over vessels registered under its flag, including those relating to inspection, certification, and issuance of safety and pollution prevention documents. As stated in the Article 5 of the Geneva Convention on the High Seas of 1958, there must be a “genuine link” between a vessel and its flag state.
A register that is open only to ships of its nation is known as a national register and
requires that a ship be owned and constructed by national interests and at least partially crewed by its
citizens.
Registers that are open to foreign-owned ships are known as "open registers" and are sometimes called flags of
convenience. They don’t have the same requirements and usually offer faster online registration, favorable
taxation, and liability protections under a stable fiscal and legal system.
The change of the flag state can happen if the shipowner or manager decides to register under
another country register, or if a ship is sold to another party who has a different flag state preference.
For changing it, various documents are submitted to the approaching flag state: the official entry into the
new shipping register will happen only after the vessel has been deleted from the previous one. It’s a
procedure that can take from some hours to a few days, depending on the country's requirements. In short, the
more a ship changes names and register, the more has been purchased or leased, meaning a higher value in the
shipping markets. Cargo ships and oil tankers are a good investment nowadays.
On the website there is also a dictionary featuring technical terms and code employed in the nautical field.
Academic project
Design Academy Eindhoven
Year
2019