The Panama Maritime Authority met with the International Association of Recognized Organizations (IARO), whose membership is authorized by Panama to perform statutory certifications and provide regulatory services to Panama-flagged vessels.

The reunion focused on topics implemented jointly by the Registry and the Recognized Organizations (ROs) and Recognized Protection Organizations (RPOs), for improving the compliance of the fleet in matters of statutory inspections, financial guarantees and annual safety inspections of the Panamanian fleet.

The performance of vessels in the various Memoranda of Understanding, annual safety inspections, incidents and maritime accidents, the Audit Program, its follow-up, and results were reviewed during the discussion chaired by the

Director General of Merchant Marine, Rafael Cigarruista and the President of the IARO, Santiago Torrijos.

For the fleet to comply with international standards, it is important to work together and with the service providers on the statutory certification and provision of regulatory services for reducing detentions, incidents, or maritime accidents, and thus, maintain a good international image of the flag.

The Registry’s executives presented an analysis of the situation of the Registry and the decision to base the operation on 4 pillars: reengineering, international compliance, customer service, technological innovation, which have brought significant changes in favor of the clients of the Panama flag.

The Audit Program for Recognized Organizations and Recognized Protection Organizations will restart next July 2022 and will last 12 months, to complete the visits to the 31 ROs authorized by the Panamanian Registry. To date, nine of these companies have been audited, giving an average progress rate of 29%.

The Registry's core business is the compliance with international standards for a good performance of the fleet and the Panama Maritime Authority ‘s Directorate General of Merchant Marine will pursue its efforts with the different entities that work with the Register to provide the best service to its more than 8,500 vessels.