On 1 July it became official that Norway keeps the second place on the Paris MoU White list. The Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) also received a letter from the United States Coast Guard saying that the NMA was subject to renewed approval in their programme "Quality Shipping for the 21st Century".
"The Norwegian flag is, and will remain, a quality flag. In addition to the renewed approval in the Qualship 21 programme and a second place on the Paris MoU White list, we have also been ranked high on the Tokyo MoU White list. It is nice to see that we are regarded a quality register by all the major port State regimes," says acting Director General of Navigation and Shipping, Alf Tore Sørheim.
The United States Coast Guard have sent their best wishes to Norway as a flag State, and in a letter to the NMA they said that they have seen the remarkable work done by Norway. In the last three years Norwegian-flagged vessels visiting United States harbours have been standing out in port State controls.
The detention rate for Norwegian ships is less than one percent, which is also the limit for being included in the Qualship 21 programme.
When a ship is included in the Qualship 21 programme, regardless of the ship type, it will get some relaxations in the extent and content of inspections by the United States Coast Guard.
"We would like to thank our great Norwegian shipping companies for their work every day. The good cooperation between companies, recognised classification societies and the NMA is key to the success," Sørheim adds.