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Countries with the Largest Merchant Navies

Name the countries of the world that have the most shipping tonnage registered in their name.
Many of these are Flags of Convenience used by foreign shipowners to avoid regulation
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 15, 2018
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First submittedDecember 15, 2018
Times taken18,652
Average score60.0%
Rating4.46
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Gross tonnage
Country
216 mil
Panama
124 mil
Liberia
117 mil
China / Hong Kong
81.1 mil
Marshall Islands
59.2 mil
Singapore
48.3 mil
Bahamas
45.0 mil
Malta
41.1 mil
Greece
40.9 mil
United Kingdom / Bermuda
19.7 mil
Cyprus
Gross tonnage
Country
18.5 mil
Spain
18.0 mil
Italy
17.8 mil
Japan
14.4 mil
Norway
13.7 mil
Germany
11.3 mil
Denmark
11.1 mil
South Korea
10.6 mil
Antigua and Barbuda
10.1 mil
Indonesia
9.9 mil
United States
+14
Level 83
Dec 15, 2018
Some of these seem extremely random... I presume there's some kind of logic that I'm missing? Do countries register ships with other countries for tax reasons or something?
+43
Level 78
Dec 15, 2018
Tax havens, baby!!!! The very rich register ships in countries across the globe that they'll never ship to or from so they don't pay or pay fewer taxes to the countries they do ship to and it's perfectly legal! Tax evasion is illegal except when you're rich.
+11
Level 88
Dec 15, 2018
Except for some (usually very low) registration fees, ships themselves are generally not taxed. The flag has no bearing on the taxation of shipped goods. There are many reasons behind the choice of a flag, including crew costs, maintenance costs, safety requirements, access to market (cabotage in the US is generally limited to American ships), access to funds, crew nationality requirements, the applicable regulatory framework, etc. Makes perfect sense for ship owners to optimize all these factors. It is also completely unworkable to appoint a flag. What would the criteria even be?
+5
Level 75
Dec 15, 2018
The purpose is to reduce costs by enabling companies legally to extract more work, for as little pay as possible, from workers drawn from anywhere in the world. When a limiting regulation is uncovered or appealed to – such as Panama’s labour law guaranteeing no more than a six-day work week – lobbying by the shipping company (in this case, cruise lines) is likely to earn an exemption - important since workers often work months-long shifts without days off.
+4
Level 70
Jan 27, 2019
Liberia is not a tax haven... does have loose regulations on shipping though
+3
Level 65
Jan 28, 2019
Labor cost differences and lower or no insurance costs.
+9
Level 64
Dec 15, 2018
Liberia was my first thought
+1
Level 63
Dec 15, 2018
I thought of Liberia too, but didn't try it.
+3
Level 79
Apr 28, 2020
Really? Sarcastic, no?
+3
Level 69
Sep 17, 2022
For some weird reason, Liberia was the first mainland African country I decided to type in and it turned out to be right.
+3
Level 72
Dec 18, 2018
Surprised the average score is as high as it is. There are quite a few very random countries on here.
+8
Level 84
Feb 21, 2019
Probably because there's enough time to guess a solid proportion of the coastal countries. :-)
+1
Level 76
Mar 30, 2023
Anyone who's been to a large enough harbour is also likely to have seen some of these. I live in a country with some of the laxest taxation and regulations (Greece), yet I've seen most of the weird ones on the list, on anything from yachts to container ships.
+1
Level 35
Jan 27, 2019
I missed Liberia, Marshall Islands and Cyprus.
+2
Level 48
Jan 27, 2019
I tried a few Central American countries but since they weren't on the list, I moved on to other places. Missed Panama because of it...
+2
Level 54
Oct 1, 2020
thats hilarious
+1
Level 68
Jan 25, 2022
This happens way too often to me. Not this time with Panama, but sometimes I just decide to quit trying after a portion of a group of countries doesn't work, usually the ones I didn't bother to try are right answers.
+1
Level 77
Mar 1, 2023
I just tried it because of the canal. Shocked it was #1 with a bullet.
+1
Level 44
Jan 27, 2019
Great quiz! I was slightly confused by the seeming randomness of the countries as well, but was found the answers pretty interesting!
+4
Level 79
Jan 27, 2019
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig was flagged by the Marshalls. But not because BP is anywhere near the Marshalls - they sell their flag so companies like BP have fewer regulatory hoops to jump through. Also, the Marshalls get about half of their Flag of Convenience revenue from oil rigs (not ships) and the country is threatened by sea level rise, so figure that one out. Oh, and the Marshalls doesn't actually get much money from selling their flag because the government sold the operation to a private company based in Virginia in the 1990s. So, yeah, flags of convenience.
+5
Level 88
Jan 27, 2019
Not surprised by Cyprus, I mean it does have the added benefit of being both European AND Asian ;)
+1
Level 72
Apr 28, 2020
Not on Jetpunk it doesn't.
+11
Level 82
Apr 28, 2020
Cyprus is in Africa.
+1
Level 61
Apr 28, 2020
Cyprus is in the Mediterranean Sea- it's disputed between Europe and Asia- but not Africa.
+2
Level 29
Apr 28, 2020
It’s quite close to Africa
+2
Level 78
Apr 7, 2021
Cyprus is home to both the African Swallow and the European Swallow. Make of that what you will....
+3
Level 71
Oct 26, 2021
Cyprus is both a continent and an island.
+3
Level 80
Nov 15, 2021
Cyprus is not a fish, it's an insect.
+1
Level 80
Oct 21, 2022
I got all but Singapore and Norway. What was I thinking‽
+1
Level 72
Apr 21, 2023
^^ Username checks out
+3
Level 87
Sep 30, 2023
The merchant navy was pioneering globalisation centuries before almost anyone else, and the multicultural aspect of working at sea remains strong. However, the simplest (and therefore commonest) reason for “flagging out” is money. P&O Ferries were the largest British ferry operator running across the English Channel (from the UK to France) when they suddenly decided that they were in fact a Cypriot company, and therefore exempt from both British and French minimum wage laws. Bingo. The third world crews now operating these ships are poorly trained, and work excessively long contracts, further jeopardising public safety in the name of profit. Of course, all this requires the complicity of national governments. The UK flag has been degraded by successive British governments, to the point that there is no longer any requirement for British seafarers to work on a British flagged ship - not even the Master!

This explains the huge number of ships with Monrovia or Majuro painted on the stern

+2
Level 87
Sep 30, 2023
PS: I’m a Master Mariner, with 25 years of merchant navy service