U.S., Marshall Islands sign joint ship boarding agreement

U.S., Marshall Islands sign joint ship boarding agreement    The United States and Marshall Islands signed a joint ship boarding agreement to help prevent the illicit shipping of weapons of mass destruction and related components.
   The agreement, signed between the countries Friday, allows law enforcement officials of both countries to board, search and possibly detain each other’s vessels and their cargoes, if foul play is suspected or detected.
   The Marshall Islands is the 11th-largest vessel flag registry by gross tonnage, and is the third flag state to sign a Proliferation Security Initiative Shipboarding Agreement with the United States this year. The other flag states to sign agreements are Liberia and Panama.
   The combination of these three flag states “means that more than 50 percent of commercial shipping fleet deadweight tonnage is now subject to rapid-action consent procedures for boarding, search, and seizure by the United States,” said the U.S. State Department in a statement.
   The State Department also said its newest ship boarding agreement “bolsters the reputation of the Marshall Islands’ ship registry and the confidence of those involved in the shipping trade that the Marshall Islands government is working to ensure that Marshall Islands flagged ships are not misused.”