The International Maritime Organization (IMO) secretariat has counted 529 vessels flying false flags, a sprawling fraud problem that will headline the agenda at next month’s legal sub-committee meeting and exposes systemic weaknesses in global ship registration.
In a note circulated ahead of LEG 113, the secretariat said the tally of falsely flagged ships has risen since LEG 112 and that 356 of those vessels are not classed by any classification society. The list, compiled with verification from S&P Global and published through the IMO’s GISIS platform, breaks the phenomenon down by purported flag state and vessel type, and highlights how the deception spans tankers, bulkers, containerships and smaller craft.
The report chronicles submissions and alerts from governments and industry stakeholders around the world. The Netherlands flagged two fraudulent websites claiming to issue Sint Maarten certificates; 17 ships were confirmed flying a false Sint Maarten flag. France reported a bogus maritime administration webpage for Matthew Island, though no ships were identified. Landlocked Malawi discovered a fake Malawi Ship Registry, reported the fraud to INTERPOL and saw its count of falsely flagged ships fall from 27 in September 2025 to eight at the time of the report.
Timor‑Leste and Lesotho both notified the IMO that they do not operate international registries after fraudulent pages and certificates surfaced. The UK raised cases linked to Bermuda MMSI numbers being misused by vessels claiming to be commercial fishing ships, in breach of Bermuda law. Benin uncovered a fake maritime administration website and initially reported 33 falsely flagged ships, a figure that had fallen to 13 following follow‑up checks. The Gambia carried out a registry cleanse that removed 72 ships and imposed a moratorium on new registrations after discovering forged certificates.
Other submissions revealed sudden AIS broadcasts bearing Botswana details despite that country not operating a registry (17 false Botswana flags), fraudulent crew‑boat certificates linked to Mali (17 false Mali flags), and a discredited claim that an Alfa Register of Shipping had been authorised by Guinea, which the government denied – 39 ships were found flying a false Guinea flag. Tonga’s case has made headlines recently. Its international registry was terminated in 2002, so foreign ships using the Tongan flag are to be treated as stateless under international law, the Tongan government stated recently. 13 tankers were identified. Comoros presents a complex picture of multiple webpages and forged certificates; after verification 83 vessels remain recorded as falsely flying the Comoros flag.
The secretariat’s table also shows significant false‑flag counts attributed to Guyana (74), Aruba (35), Curaçao (32) and a long tail of other states and territories.
The secretariat will ask the legal committee for further measures to prevent unlawful practices and to tighten verification, a push that aims both to protect maritime safety and to strip cloak and anonymity from ships exploiting bogus registries.
False flags have been a constant in the shipping news cycle this month, with Splash covering stories relating to fraudulent registries that stretch from Vanuatu to Zimbabwe and Madagascar.
Writing for Splash earlier this month, David Heindel from the International Transport Workers’ Federation argued: “The jurisdictional ambiguity that allows ships to shift identities, manipulate registries, or operate without effective oversight is not accidental. It is built into the business model. This is why false flags and shadow fleets have continued to proliferate despite increased sanctions, surveillance, and massively increased media and political attention. Industry profits from opacity. Flag states – in the case of the worst offenders, with flags often outsourced to unscrupulous overseas business interests – profit from regulatory leniency. Together, they create exactly the conditions in which fraudulent registries, identity switching, and impunity thrive.”
