Gambiaj.com – (BANJUL, The Gambia) – The attention of The Gambia Maritime Administration has been drawn to a publication titled “Gambia’s dark fleet gambit sees detentions and sanctions surge” by Lloyds List and subsequently by The Gambia Journal and other local media in a replication of the same article under different titles. “Gambia’s Dark Fleet of Oil Tankers Hit with Detentions Over Safety and Environmental Violations” by The Gambia Journal, on 21 March 2025 and 2 April 2025, respectively.

These publications are a deliberate and coordinated campaign to discredit the achievements of The Gambia in its ship registry and instill fear among the shipping community in order to scare ship owners from doing business with The Gambia.

Let’s first put context to these publications which originated from Lloyds List who have been reporting on Gambian ships from 2022, when the country had initially only registered five ships on a provisional basis. The stories they have published on Gambian ships were all related to Port State Control (PSC) inspection activities on routine operational safety and environmental matters. In all such reports, GMA was contacted by Lloyds in 2022 only, for verification purposes and was never consulted on the subsequent reports about Gambian ships since 2023, to hear its side of the story.

This is clearly a biased reportage and violates every ethic of objective reporting. The public should be cautious in handling such reports until they are verified with the right source.

This kind of publicity is not unusual in the business of shipping in an attempt to discredit genuine and sincere efforts whilst spreading fear among potential partners. It’s also a potential attempt on the part of the publishers to coerce GMA to enlist its services to obtain verifiable and evidence-based information for which they are not the only provider.

Details of Ships Mentioned

The article claims that Gambian registered ships have experienced a surge in detentions and sanctions.

The ships were held at port for Port State Control inspections and this is not exclusive to only Gambian ships. Here at the Port of Banjul, GMA also regularly conducts Port State Control inspections on foreign ships. During these inspections, ships that have defects would sometimes be detained and were asked to rectify them before leaving or to do so at the nearest port if it cannot be fixed in The Gambia.

Port State Control inspection is a safety net that supports Flag States in the enforcement of technical regulations of the relevant IMO instruments on ships in foreign ports. There are 10 such Port State Control regimes around the world and The Gambia belongs to The Abuja MOU Port State Control regime.

PSC inspections are different from sanctions which are political tools used by powerful and influential States to effect behavioral change on the part of weaker States, especially where such sanctions are unilateral in nature.

Thus, it is important to highlight that, all the ships concerned have not been involved in any criminal activity and were not arrested.

Measures in Place to Ensure Due Diligence

The report claims that GMA is apparently turning a blind eye to the defects of unfit ship and insinuating that it is indiscriminately registering all manner of ships without any standards applied. This is an attempt to blackmail The Gambia’s registry and create disinformation within the maritime space. GMA has developed systems that ensure due diligence is applied in its ship registration process. It will interest the public to note that several ships have already been refused registration with The Gambia flag by GMA for failure to meet its improved criteria for ship registration. Registration of those ships by GMA would have multiplied the total tonnage of The Gambia Ship Register many folds.

GMA have partnerships around the world with Class Surveyors to conduct survey of Gambian Ships as required by law, in addition to the local surveyors.

In conclusion, GMA reiterates its unwavering commitment to maritime safety, security and environmental protection as required under the local maritime and International laws. GMA will continue to collaborate with actors in the maritime industry locally and internationally to ensure the effective implementation of its coastal, flag, and port state duties while safeguarding The Gambia’s national interest in line with acceptable international standards.

GMA urges its media partners to verify or consult it on matters that concern the Administration of shipping as per its mandate. This will help in clearing misconceptions and avoiding bias reporting.

The Administration has an open door policy on national matters and media houses are encouraged to engage it on matters of maritime administration.

We thank all our stakeholders for the continued collaboration in helping the Administration fulfill its mandate.

GMA Management