FOC Terrorist Threat

More and more reports and incidents linking Flag of Convenience shipping to crimes such as drug importation, gun running, people smuggling, money laundering, tax evasion, illegal fishing, fraud, pollution, oil spills have been appearing in the European press.

"Secret Fleet Supplied Bombers", The London Times reported. "Intelligence agencies across the world are examining Osama bin Laden?s multi-million pound shipping interests. He maintains a secret fleet, under a variety of flags of convenience, allowing him to hide his ownership and transport goods, arms, drugs and recruits with little official scrutiny."

The Times reported that Bin Laden also uses his vessels to move around key members of his terrorist network, allowing them to disembark at obscure ports.

If terrorists are coming into Australia it is more likely via ships trading with Australia or working along our coast, rather than leaky fishing boats from Indonesia, as the government has claimed.

And while seafarers are more likely to be victims, rather than perpetrators of crime, widespread fraudulent certification and corruption meant people with no seafaring skills could buy documentation and jobs on ships then walk ashore without any scrutiny.