Panama will fine ships up to $10,000 if they tamper with transponders
Panama to fine ships up to $10,000 if they tamper with transponders
Panama's Maritime Authority said it will impose sanctions on vessels, including fines of up to $10,000 and withdrawing its flag from the ship, if they deliberately deactivate, tamper with or alter the operation of their tracking transponders.
The head of Panama's Merchant Marine, Rafael Cigarruista, told Reuters the decision to sanction ships that do not comply with the rules are part of commitments made by Panama to avoid sanctions from international organizations.
"We want our ships to not deliberately turn off their equipment," said Cigarruista.
Panama has the largest shipping fleet in the world with some 8,000 vessels registered.
The Panama Maritime Authority said it is constantly monitoring its fleet and it will initiate an internal investigation if it detects a vessel's transponder is down or not reporting.
That investigation "may culminate with sanctions that will be deemed appropriate [and] in some cases where the vessel is found having this conduct on a regular basis could be de-flagged or deleted from the registry."
The Trump administration on May 14 issued guidelines to help ship owners and insurers avoid the risks of sanctions, standards that were modified following months of discussions with the industry.
The US State Department said it is committed to disrupting sanction evasion and smuggling of goods.
The maritime advisory was first outlined on March 9 by David Peyman, a State Department deputy assistant secretary. He said then the advisory would, among other things, warn shippers not to turn off transponders and not to store Iranian oil.
Passengers of Holland America's cruise ship Zaandam are transferred to the Rotterdam cruise ship in Panama City bay on Saturday. Photo: AFP
"This General Directorate of Merchant Marine will impose sanctions to all those Panamanian flagged vessels that deliberately deactivate, tamper with or alter the operation of Long Range Identification and Tracking System or the Automatic Identification System," it said in a statement.The head of Panama's Merchant Marine, Rafael Cigarruista, told Reuters the decision to sanction ships that do not comply with the rules are part of commitments made by Panama to avoid sanctions from international organizations.
"We want our ships to not deliberately turn off their equipment," said Cigarruista.
Panama has the largest shipping fleet in the world with some 8,000 vessels registered.
The Panama Maritime Authority said it is constantly monitoring its fleet and it will initiate an internal investigation if it detects a vessel's transponder is down or not reporting.
That investigation "may culminate with sanctions that will be deemed appropriate [and] in some cases where the vessel is found having this conduct on a regular basis could be de-flagged or deleted from the registry."
The Trump administration on May 14 issued guidelines to help ship owners and insurers avoid the risks of sanctions, standards that were modified following months of discussions with the industry.
The US State Department said it is committed to disrupting sanction evasion and smuggling of goods.
The maritime advisory was first outlined on March 9 by David Peyman, a State Department deputy assistant secretary. He said then the advisory would, among other things, warn shippers not to turn off transponders and not to store Iranian oil.
