Malawi becomes latest fraudulent registry as fake fleet grows 170%
The landlocked African state of Malawi has become the latest home for sanctioned tankers, however the newly established ship registry purporting to operate within government department is yet another example of a growing list of fraudulent registries
The addition of four sanctioned tankers to a fake Malawi flag has taken the number of fraudulently registered ships to nearly 300, a 170% increase in the past 24 months
THE government of Malawi has confirmed that a newly established ship registry, which has flagged at least four sanctioned tankers in recent weeks, is a fraudulent operation.
The Malawi Maritime Administration, an entity that falsely purports to operate under the government’s non-existent Maritime Administration Office, established an online presence earlier this year and has successfully registered at least four tankers so far.
Officials within the Malawi High Commission in London, however, have told Lloyd’s List the flag registry and seafarer certification operation has not been established by the government.
While the Malawi government is a member state of the International Maritime Organization, the landlocked southeastern African state has to date focused its maritime operations on its inland waterways and Lake Malawi. The limited development of seafarer training and maritime regulation is overseen by the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. No specific maritime ministry exists within the Malawian government.
The identity of the individuals behind what the Malawi officials described as “a fraudulent registry” is not clear, however the details of Malawi Maritime Administration were entered into the IMO’s official GSIS database as a point of contact for Malawi’s ship certification services.
The details entered into GSIS for all contact points are updated by the member states themselves, not the IMO secretariat. Any update is entered via a secure login specific to each member state.
Nobody from the Malawi High Commission in London was aware of how the details of a fraudulent operation were loaded into GSIS, however officials are understood to be investigating the matter and liaising with government offices in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital.
None of the advertised phone contact points advertised on the Malawi Maritime Administration website appear to work and Lloyd’s List has received no response to emailed questions.
The website, which has been in construction since at least April 2024, features many of the same features, style and language used in previously identified fraudulent flag operations.
The number of falsely flagged ships operating under these fake flags has been growing rapidly during the past two years.
The addition of four tankers in the Malawi false flag identified by Lloyd’s List earlier this week takes the number of ships known to be flying false flags to 297. That represents a 170% increase in the past 24 months.
Small registries grew at record pace last year, driven by an influx of shadow fleet tonnage, but African states have been a popular target for the establishment of fraudulent flag operations.
Malawi joins Eswatini, Guyana, Togo, Equatorial Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo and Gabon as the sites of well established fraudulent flag operations.
Despite several years of discussions within the IMO’s Legal Sub-committee considering measures to crack down on the growing problem, member states remain divided on how best to tackle the problem.
In March, the committee concluded that work would start on the development of new Guidelines or Best Practices on the Registration of Ships, with a view for this work to be completed in 2027.
The IMO, meanwhile, says it has also taken steps to thoroughly review the authenticity of requests to access IMO web accounts.
