Reflagging

Changing a ship’s flag of registry, moving it from one state’s register to another. It is lawful and routine for commercial and regulatory reasons, but rapid or repeated flag-hopping is a sanctions red flag because it can sever a vessel from a register that has de-flagged it or obscure its compliance history. UNCLOS Article 92 fixes a ship to one flag at a time and bars switching flags during a voyage or in a port of call except on a genuine transfer of ownership or change of registry.