> the Eagle Gibraltar, a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier <
Ah, yes. Another American ship flying a foreign flag of convenience. All to avoid paying US taxes, and to avoid following US regulations.
I wonder if the owner called the Marshall Islands navy first.🤔
+1
Wikipedia: Marshall Islands
Politically, the Marshall Islands is a parliamentary republic with an executive presidency in free association with the United States, with the U.S. providing defense, subsidies, and access to U.S.-based agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission and the United States Postal Service.
It is not so much taxes is that any US flagged vessel has to abide by the Jones Act. That typically means much higher operating costs. Including union crews.
This is also the reason why shipping from one US port to the other is more expensive than shipping from Houston to anywhere else in the world. If you ship from Houston to Boston it has to be on a US flagged vessel in compliance to the Jones Act.
This is also the case with river cruises in the US or small cruise ships that go up the New England coast in the summer.
Which is why they are so much more expensive than a cruise ship that departs Boston and goes to Bermuda.
I wonder if the owner called the Marshall Islands navy first.🤔
Might as well have. The (presumably non-existent) Marshall Islands navy would have been able to provide just as much protection/deterrence as the U.S. Navy appears to have been able to do.
But I catch your broader point and agree with it.