“This General Directorate of Merchant Marine will impose sanctions to all those Panamanian flagged vessels that deliberately deactivate, tamper 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 regular bases could be de-flagged or deleted from the registry.”
Source: https://www.reuters.com