Further Decline in ‘Militarily Useful’ British Vessels as Numbers Drop to 475 in 2024.
The number of ‘militarily useful’ British-registered vessels has continued to decline, falling from 495 in 2023 to 475 by the end of 2024, continuing a long-term trend of decreasing maritime resources available for national defence.
The latest data, released as part of the UK Armed Forces Equipment and Formations 2024 report, confirms a reduction of 20 vessels over the past year. The decrease was largely driven by a decline in product and chemical tankers, while updated data collection methods allowed for the inclusion of Roll-on Roll-off passenger vessels in 2023, which had been previously unavailable.
The decline follows a broader trend observed in recent years. In 2009, there were 841 British-registered vessels deemed useful for military requisition. By 2023, that number had dropped to 495, representing a 41.14% reduction. The latest figures show a further 4% decline over the past year.
Militarily useful vessels are defined as merchant ships, including tankers, dry cargo vessels, and passenger ships, that could be requisitioned to support UK military operations if required.
The continued decrease in available ships raises questions about the UK’s ability to sustain maritime logistics in times of crisis, particularly in a scenario where civilian shipping assets would be needed to support military operations.
I don’t have any figures, but I would guess that worldwide the number of merchant ships is increasing, so I suspect there are reasons why companies are choosing to register their ships elsewhere?
It looks like some of the most popular countries to register ships are small commonwealth countries. Perhaps some sort of quid-pro-quo agreement could be reached in order to access these vessels in extreme circumstances.
They are flags of convenience – ie. very few regulations. The US operate a system whereby ships using their ports need to be US owned, registered and they have stringent regulations. We could start moving towards that sort of arrangement.
I assume there are still British owned vessels they are simply not British registered. These vessels are almost certainly insured by LLoyds. The solution seems simple. The Government set up a company which builds, registers & leases (at excellent but profitable prices) ships of all type and sizes. The Government could borrow the startup costs from the Bank of England. It would create an industry although it would need to be very modern to compete against virtual slave labour in some countries.
The problem would be the pressure to build the ships in the UK and recreate BSB Ltd…..
So all the bulk shipping moves to Holland – how does that help?
USA is a specific case of ‘they are big enough to get away with it’
Not necessarily. Europe will be laser focused on issues related to defence & ukraine and will also be looking at their shipping. Flags of convenience is a boil which needs to be lanced. I am sure the EU could be open to the idea of making all their shipping better regulated and owned in Europe. A reciprocal deal with the UK should be possible. The EU market is probably larger than the US market however I’m sure the Amercians might be up for a deal.
Would be interesting to compare the numbers against other similar sized countries such as Frace, Italy or Spain. As I read somewhere that even though our merchant fleet has definitely shrunk over the years it is still one of the biggest outside the US, China and all the flag of convenience countries.
Tremble afore ye mighty Liberian navy
lol
Yes it’s every first world nation..other than the US which has legislation to counter flags of convenience ( aka it’s against the law) or china where every Chinese ship is flagged Chinese because it’s actually owned by the CCP even if it’s legally owned by a Chinese company.
All def secs in the last 25 years have presided over this shameful decline. Same with the RAF. The list of cuts, cuts and more cuts without immediate replacements has been ruinous.
Did you read the article? It’s nothing to do with defence cuts.
This has nothing to do with defence spending and everything to do with flags of convenience.
The global trend has been to hide the real owners of ships behind a series of front companies in a variety of countries. That way, if it sinks or causes damage, it is hard to sue the real owner. This needs to be clamped down on, by the G7.
The other point is that in 2022, many countries ordered new LNG carriers to ensure cheap energy. Britain did not. Hence high energy costs here.
“Stuft” is fun. Try a North Sea ferry in mid Atlantic….
How many have British crews, most have under paid crews from Pakistan
Decline since Spithead naval review
Another headline “further decline in politically useful politicians”…….😜
In the end the only way to manage this is to force legislation around the flag of convenience nations..simply put the major nations need to get together and enforce some form of control and remove the flags of convenience from the board. “Flags of Convenience (FOCs) are a legal aberration and a stain on the shipping industry. They provide shipowners with the means of avoiding effective control by the countries of ownership, mostly from the global north, and the enforcement of strict rules and regulations that protect seafarers. They have become a powerful vehicle for social dumping by allowing shipowners… Read more »