Many cruise passengers began asking us when the Insignia will sail again, even before the ship’s burned-out engine room stopped smoldering.
Of course we don’t know. The investigation into the fire is just beginning. Investigators from the Marshall Islands (the flag of the Oceania cruise ship) has just started. The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and
A reader of Cruise Law News (CLN) brought an excellent opinion piece from the New York Times regarding the shipping industry’s use of "flags of convenience" to my attention. Entitled "Flying the Flag, Fleeing the State" and written by Rose George, the article explains how unscrupulous ship owners evade responsibility for environmental damage, exploitative labor and unsafe work conditions, and criminal
The LA Times has an interesting article this morning revealing how drilling companies skirt U.S. laws by registering their oil rigs in countries like the Marshall Islands, described by the Times as a "tiny, impoverished nation in the Pacific Ocean."
Drilling rigs are considered to be "vessels" under maritime law. This permits their owners and operators to register them wherever