§ 32. Mr. Clinton Davisasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he will make a statement outlining Her Majesty's Government's policy with regard to flags of convenience.
§ Mr. EyreThe Government wish to see the preservation of a freely competitive international shipping environment and believe that each nation should be free to set its own conditions for admission to its register, subject only to the full observation of internationally agreed standards.
By the same token the choice of flag is a matter for the ship owner, who must be free to make a commercial decision taking into account relative operating costs, including labour costs.
In international discussions on flags of convenience, the United Kingdom will continue to oppose any measures which are likely to reduce competition in shipping with the consequent increase in the costs of international trade.
43. Mr. R. C. Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade how many merchant ships formerly under the British flag were transferred to flags of convenience during 1980; and what was the total tonnage.
§ Mr. EyreThe available statistics on such transfers includes sales by British to foreign owners, and these account for the great majority of such transfers. It is not, therefore, usually possible to distinguish the minority of transfers to other flags where the British owner retains an interest in the ship. As there is no generally agreed definition of a "flag of convenience", the table below gives transfers to all foreign flags (up to end-November 1980, the latest date available).
12W
Transfers of ships from the United Kingdom register for further trading, January to November 1980 Flag No. of Ships Grt '000 DWT '000 Greece 21 232 344 Panama 17 177 269 Hong Kong 9 168 262 Liberia 7 155 280 Singapore 6 77 121 Italy 5 61 83 Saudi Arabia 3 125 242 Cyprus 3 25 36 Canada 3 15 20 Cuba 2 18 30 Lebanon 2 10 14 Argentina 2 9 12 Cayman Islands 2 3 4 Bahamas 1 18 2 South Korea 1 15 24 Indonesia 1 10 15 Australia 1 9 11 St. Vincent 1 7 8 France 1 5 5 Bermuda 1 2 2 Honduras 1 1 2 Unknown 3 25 34
Transfers of ships from the United Kingdom register for further trading, January to November 1980 Flag No. of Ships Grt '000 DWT '000 Total 93 1,165 1,819 NB: Due to rounding, sums of the constituent figures of tonnage do not agree with the totals shown.