False-flagged vessels climbed significantly between 2022 and 2025: S&P Global

It is driven by large-scale purges from reputable registries, amongst others.

The number of false-flagged vessels—ships that illegally use or display registration details they are not authorised to use—increased between 2022 and 2025, according to a S&P Global report.

It is driven by large-scale purges from reputable registries and heightened enforcement of sanctions programs.

“This temporal shift reveals emerging patterns in evasion strategies, including frequent flag hopping, manipulation of Automatic Identification System data, falsified documentation, and complex ownership structures,” the report said.

Such challenges present themselves in a variety of ways, including false digital identity by manipulating AIS data to misrepresent the identity of the vessel.

This can include transmitting the identity or identifiers associated with another vessel, or the fabrication of digital identifiers associated with a flag.

Meanwhile, a terminated registry occurs when a vessel continues to use its old flag state registration details after that registration has officially ended or expired.

Further, fraudulent registration happens through the use of false documentation associated with a flag state to seek further documentation.