A total of 234 commercial vessels have re-flagged away from the Union Jack since the beginning of this year, de-listing from the UK Ship Register as Brexit’s October 31 deadline draws nearer.
And although it’s not altogether certain whether it’s because of possible ship-registration complications related to Brexit and the UK’s intended split from the EU, at least one line, CMA CGA, recently stated that as a French-owned company it made sense to re-flag under European colours.
The Marseille-based line also represents the biggest corporate seafaring brand to date to have lowered the Union Jack on its vessels, selecting instead to re-register 46 of its vessels under European flags.
Prior to the Brexit referendum in 2016, CMA CGA had 49 vessels registered with the UK register.
Of the total number of 234 vessels that have left the registry, 53 are container ships.
Ocean freight data aggregator Vessels Value says that although the number of ships that have thus far delisted from the UK register only represent 9% of the number of vessels appearing on the registry, this represents a 39% cut in the gross tonnage of vessels sailing under the British flag.
In defence of what appears to be lines jumping ship in the face of Brexit, Vessels Value CFO Adrian Economakis told a UK logistics portal that “there are a lot of factors that cause people to leave a flag state, and many are not transparent to normal market participants”.
He added though that “it’s impossible to attribute the decision to leave to one factor alone, but ship owners prefer certainty and simplicity when dealing with parts of the business that can easily be substituted”.
