Sweden has moved up – marginally – in its position on the Paris MOU annual list of world shipping nations published at the beginning of July. The Swedish flag is now at number 14 of a total of 41 countries on the white list, compared with number 16 the previous year. Sweden’s position is based on 310 inspections carried out between 2017 and 2019 and 3 ships detained. The UK is at the top of the list with only ten ships detained after more than 1,000 inspections. In second place is Norway with 1,612 inspections and 19 ships detained, followed by the Bahamas in third place with 40 detentions after 2,124 inspections. The grey list includes countries such as Algeria, Poland and Egypt. At the bottom of the blacklist are Togo, Comoros and Albania. Comoros, which has the worst inspection results, had 69 ships detained after 380 inspections. The most common reasons for detaining ships are failure to comply with the ISM Code, problems with sea charts and fire safety. The Paris MOU inspection area covers the European coastal states and Canada.

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