Which country does the Diamond Princess cruise ship belong to?

Diamond Princess: American company, British flag, Japanese burden.

What happened on the super luxury cruise ship Diamond Princess attracted global attention. This 5-star luxury cruise ship docked in Japan. It is also the first 116,000-ton ultra-luxury cruise ship independently built by the Japanese shipbuilding industry in Nagasaki to reach the highest international level. Normally, this ship mainly operates in East Asia and Southeast Asia. After the problem occurred, Japan emphasized that the cruise ship's country of registration was the United Kingdom. Therefore, it believed that according to international law, the country of registration of the ship was obliged to deal with such situations on board, but Japan had no obligation.

However, Japan also admits that it is a complicated issue to decide who should handle the matter - the country of the ship's flag, the country of the ship operating company, the country of the crew and the coastal country. The ship is built in Japan and mainly operates in the Asia-Pacific region. It is registered with the British Register. What is the reason for this?

This is the professional name of the modern international shipping industry. The first is the so-called ship registration, which refers to the nationality of the ship. The owner of a merchant ship must apply to the relevant administrative department for ship management in his or her own country or a foreign country to register the ownership of the ship. Only after obtaining the nationality of his or her country of registration can he obtain the nationality of the ship. Ship registration is actually the nationality or identity document of a ship. All international sea-going ships operating legally should have a ship registration.

The ship’s registration is different from the nationality of the person. A person's nationality is usually the country of birth or the nationality of his parents. Some people are nationals of other countries after immigrating. The ship registration means that the ship owner, who is the original investor, can freely choose a country to register the ship after the ship is built. Generally, it has nothing to do with the country in which the ship itself was built. For example, the Diamond Princess above was built in Japan, but its country of registration is the United Kingdom. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, civilian ships around the world are managed in accordance with the principles of flag state. For example, on board the Diamond Princess, whether on the high seas or in port, in principle, only British law applies. Unless a criminal case occurs on board a ship within Japanese territorial waters, Japan has no jurisdiction over it.

However, the Convention on the Law of the Sea does not consider what to do in the event of a major health situation. Therefore, Japan cannot get rid of this burden even if it wants to; at the same time, the British side simply pretends not to have heard of this matter, and is completely pretending to be deaf and dumb. It can be seen that the Convention on the Law of the Sea itself has major loopholes. With a ship's registration, there will naturally be a flag. A ship's flag is actually a flag that indicates a ship's nationality. The ship's registration is a document that is unknown to outsiders, but as long as the flag of the country of registration is displayed, everyone will know the identity of the ship at a glance. Which country's law applies?

The ship class is an indicator of the technical status of the ship. In the international shipping industry, all maritime ships with a registered gross tonnage of more than 100 tons must be manufactured under the supervision of a classification society. Before ship construction begins, the specifications of each part of the ship must be approved by the classification society. After each ship is built, the classification society will evaluate the hull, onboard machinery and equipment, draft marks and other items and performance, and issue a class certificate. The certificate is generally valid for 4 years and needs to be re-certified after expiration.

Classification of ships is conducive to safe operation. It also facilitates insurance companies to determine the insurance premiums for ships and cargo. Therefore, ship classification is very similar to grading and damage-assessing family cars. If something goes wrong, it is easy to settle a claim. There are many established classification societies around the world. It also relies on selling standard income level fees. Therefore, this is also a competition for the right to speak about international standards. Nowadays, so-and-so shipbuilding industry has led the world, so new ships generally enter their own classification society.