Key influence factors of containership registration in Taiwan-application of consistent fuzzy preference relation

To strengthen competitiveness, many ship owners have shifted their vessels´ registrations to open registers as Flag of Convenience (FOC) vessels. The tendency of flagging out in Taiwan is more serious. This paper adopts the consistent fuzzy preference relation (CFPR) to evaluate the relative attractiveness of different types of registers to containership corporations in Taiwan. The preference of registry locations are also compared and analyzed. The study finds the FOC countries of Panama and Liberia are the most preferred locations of vessel registrations for containership corporations in Taiwan, followed by the Quasi-FOC states or regions of Singapore and Hong Kong. Other traditional maritime countries and Taiwan are the final options. Based on the findings of this study, some suggestions are proposed to the government as a reference in revising relevant shipping policies.