Panama to implement immediate deregistration of vessels appearing on international sanctions lists

The Panama Maritime Authority (Autoridad Maritima de Panama; AMP) has confirmed the establishment of a legal mechanism under an executive decree to carry out the immediate deregistration of vessels with names appearing on the recent sanctions lists issued by the US, the UK, the European Union, and the United Nations.

According to a statement from the AMP, the Directorate General of Merchant Marine will submit a report to the Director General of the AMP recommending the cancellation of the registration of the affected vessels.

The Director must then authorise the Directorate General of Merchant Marine to proceed with the deregistration process via reasonable resolution, the statement added.

If the vessel in question has one or more mortgage registers in the General Directorate of the Public Registry, that registration will be retained to ensure that creditors can exercise their rights. At the same time, the appropriate financial institutions (i.e., banks) will be notified of the situation.

The AMP also stated that endorsing organisations under its jurisdiction are prohibited from providing classification and/or certification services to vessels that are being decommissioned or have already been deregistered.

According to both Lloyd's List Intelligence and the AMP, there are currently 32 vessels flying the flag of Panama with a total capacity of about four million tonnes that are included in the sanctions list from the indicated jurisdictions.