KOROR, Palau — President Surangel Whipps Jr. has admitted Palau’s ship registry has a poor record of oversight and pledged to tighten monitoring after international watchdogs ranked the Pacific nation among the worst for labor and safety standards.
In an interview with Context, produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network, Whipps said Palau must “up its game” to ensure vessels flying its flag comply with international rules.
“We need to be more diligent in checking and making sure that we don’t have some (substandard) vessels registered,” Whipps told Context during the U.N. Ocean Conference in Nice, France, in June.
The registry, which allows foreign-owned vessels to fly Palau’s flag regardless of ties to the nation, has been under scrutiny for years. The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) ranked Palau among the four worst flag states in 2023 for seafarer treatment. The ITF also reported that Palau-flagged ships accounted for the second-highest number of vessel abandonments globally that year.
Whipps admitted he was unaware of the scale of ship abandonment cases. “I didn’t know about the issue,” he said. “We’ve got to clean that up. That’s not good.”
Since July 2017, at least 67 Palau-flagged ships have been abandoned, according to the International Labor Organization, leaving crews without wages, food, or fuel. One high-profile case involved the Ula bulk carrier, stranded off Iran for more than two years after its owner walked away. The ITF criticized Palau for failing to assist the crew, while the government delisted the vessel, cutting ties and avoiding responsibility.
The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control blacklisted Palau’s registry in 2017 due to poor safety and labor records, subjecting its ships to increased inspections and detentions in international ports.
Whipps conceded the registry’s enforcement capacity is limited, with roughly 1,000 vessels currently flying Palau’s flag. “It’s tough,” he said. “We’ve got to do everything. We’ve got to rely on intelligence, we’ve got to rely on other people sharing information, so we can make informed decisions.”
The International Maritime Organization has warned that under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, Palau is obligated to maintain effective control over its flagged vessels. Whipps said his government is seeking outside support to improve compliance and restore credibility.
“We’ve got to do a better job,” he said.
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Source: Reporting by Katie McQue for Context in partnership with the Pulitzer Center’s Ocean Reporting Network, August 14, 2025.