Substandard shipping, seafarer criminalisation and maritime security

02 Jun 2025 Institute News

At a briefing on 30 May 2025, the Secretary-General of the IMO, His Excellency Arsenio Dominguez, addressed The Nautical Institute and other accredited NGOs on the key issues currently engaging his attention.

Addressing the existence of substandard shipping, sometime referred to as the ‘dark’ or ‘shadow fleet’, is a major issue for the IMO. In parallel, work continues to address the pressing concerns of rising seafarer abandonment and fraudulent registries.  The secretary-general pointed out that in some cases of substandard shipping, abandonment or fraudulent registration, the day-to-day administration of flag state matters has been outsourced by governments to various commercial companies, but in all such cases, the signatory to the IMO convention and thus the consequent legal responsibility, remains with the government of the flag state concerned.