Cameroon moves to purge flag register of rogue vessels

Fraudulent websites and 55 ships targeted in sweeping clean-up operation

CAMEROON: Cameroon has launched a broad crackdown on fraudulent use of its national flag, striking 39 vessels from its ship registry and identifying a further 16 as flying the Cameroonian flag without any legal right to do so. Two websites fraudulently assigning Cameroonian registration to vessels have also been exposed and referred to national and international authorities for deactivation.

The action was set out in a letter from Cameroon's Minister of Transport, Jean Ernest Ngalle Bibehe Massena, to the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which was circulated to member states this week.

The minister stated that investigations conducted by his ministry had revealed that several vessels were “unlawfully operating under the Cameroonian flag abroad, in violation of the applicable regulatory provisions and international conventions currently in effect.”

While the Minister intimated that some of the named vessels were engaged in illicit activities, the letter does not specify the nature of these activities. Cameroon provided two lists of vessels that had been flagged in their investigations.

REMOVED FROM REGISTRY

FRAUDULENT USE OF FLAG

Fake registration websites

The investigations also exposed what the minister described as “several websites, hosted both in Cameroon and abroad, fraudulently assigning the Cameroonian flag to vessels.” Two sites are named explicitly: marinecameroon.com and cameroonshipregistry.com.

Both have been referred to competent national and international authorities for identification of their administrators and deactivation. The minister said this referral was made by separate correspondence issued on the same day as his letter to the IMO, but only one of the offending sites has been deactivated at this point.

By circulating the two vessel lists through the IMO, Cameroon is in effect alerting port state control authorities worldwide to ships claiming Cameroonian registration that may have no valid legal basis for doing so. Under international maritime law, a vessel's flag state is responsible for ensuring it meets applicable safety and regulatory standards. Vessels operating without legitimate registration fall outside that framework entirely.

The circular requests that the IMO Secretary-General ensure wide dissemination of the vessel lists among member states. The operation signals an effort by Yaoundé to assert tighter control over the integrity of its ship registry and to distance the Cameroonian flag from vessels engaged in unlawful conduct.

Source: IMO Circular Letter No. 5226, 16 June 2026, communication from the Government of the Republic of Cameroon, dated 29 May 2026.

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