Guyana’s maritime agency has said that the oil tanker American forces seized off the Venezuelan coast on Wednesday was illegally flying a Guyana flag and is not on the local registration docket as it urged the international marine community to be on the lookout for vessels bearing similar phony registrations.
The maritime administration department (Marad) in a statement noted that the Motor Tanker SKIPPER (ex-ADISA), IMO Number 9304667 “was falsely flying the Guyana flag” as it sailed off the Venezuelan coast before being intercepted by the US military. “MARAD will continue to reach out to and work with international partners and other maritime agencies to identify, pursue, and take firm action against any unauthorized use of the Guyana flag,” the agency said.
Asked what can be done by this Caribbean Community nation to prevent a repeat of such incidents, Director Stephen Thomas said alerts are immediately sent to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and to various countries once false flag bearings are detected.
“We inform administrations around the world that the registration is false and we encourage them to take action. We do come across such cases occasionally and usually confirm to those states that the vessel is not registered in Guyana and is a fraud so they can take action as is necessary,” he told this publication Thursday. He said the agency has “observed the proliferation and unacceptable trend of the unauthorized use of the Guyana flag by vessels that are not registered in Guyana,” as the agency vowed to step up monitoring in this regard.
