Gibraltar Maritime Administration Attends British Red Ensign Conference

The Gibraltar Government announced on June 8 that Maritime Chief Surveyor Rob Cumbes and Senior Surveyor Dylan Cocklan attended the annual ‘Red Ensign Group Conference’ held in Portland, UK from May 24 to 26.

Delegates representing the United Kingdom’s maritime authorities and shipping administrations of the Crown Dependencies and UK Overseas Territories engaged in a wide range of topics, which included Maritime security, is high on the agenda for all involved in international shipping. 

Senior representatives from the UK Department of Transport Marine Security Section were in attendance to provide updates on shipping security and hot spots around the world and existing and proposed measures to aid shipping in the addressing security threats.

A conference reception was held on board the historic HMS Warrior in Portland Harbour, hosted by the MCA and attended by Mr Robert Goodwill MP, Minister of State for Transport, and the Labour Shadow Minister for Shipping.

Maritime Chief Surveyor, Rob Cumbes, said: ‘Surveyor training to be able to comply with the III Code – which will soon become mandatory internationally – was of particular interest to Gibraltar. Because of our unique position and the number of ships that visit Gibraltar, the GMA has been requested to aid in the training of Port State Control officers from the Isle of Man. We expect Isle of Man surveyors to come to Gibraltar for periods of one or two weeks during the summer months to gain experience and be mentored by GMA surveyors.”

The Red Ensign Group (REG) is a group of British Shipping Registers consisting of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey) and the UK Overseas Territories (Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, St Helena and the Turks & Caicos Islands) which operate shipping registers from their jurisdiction.

Any vessel registered in the UK, a Crown Dependency or UK Overseas Territory is a “British ship” and is entitled to fly the Red Ensign flag.

At current fleet levels across the group, the combined British Red Ensign fleet represents a total of 50.1 million Gross Registered Tonnes. This places the Red Ensign Group as the 7th largest Flag State in the world by GRT.