Taiwan will begin enforcing a new shipowner liability insurance review system from October 15, the Maritime and Port Administration (MPA) confirmed this week, marking the latest in a string of measures aimed at tightening control of questionable vessels entering its ports.

From next month, all ships calling at Taiwan’s commercial ports must show proof of protection and indemnity (P&I) cover from either one of the 12 members of the International Group of P&I Clubs, a Taiwanese underwriter, or from an insurer with a minimum BBB rating from an international credit agency. Authorities said 96.7% of vessels trading with Taiwan already comply.

Ships that fail to meet the criteria will either be required to lodge a deposit or risk being denied port entry altogether. To smooth implementation, the MPA has allowed a grace period for insurers currently undergoing ratings assessments, but stressed that by April 15 next year any underwriter falling short of the BBB threshold will see its clients barred from Taiwanese waters.

The move follows a series of initiatives rolled out by Taipei in recent years to strengthen maritime governance and insulate its waters from what officials have called “high-risk” tonnage, amid various attempts by ageing merchant ships to cut subsea cables.

In 2023, Taiwan introduced tighter vetting of vessels with opaque ownership structures. That same year, port authorities carried out a record number of safety inspections, singling out ships over 20 years of age and ships flagged with registries on international watchlists.

Officials have also sharpened financial oversight of tonnage calling in, requiring more transparency in payments and insurance documentation, while customs officers have been given expanded powers to seize ships suspected of falsifying AIS signals.

Following reports of cable breakage and to strengthen the safety of Taiwan’s waters and key infrastructure, ships from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau from April this year are required to go through longer port visit application processes to the island with the paperwork expected to take up to a month per vessel visit. Ships also flying the flags of Cameroon, Tanzania, Mongolia, Togo and Sierra Leone are also required to fill in the extra filings, many of which will be screened by Taiwanese security officials before being passed on to the MPA.

Like in the Baltic, Taiwan has faced multiple attacks on its subsea infrastructure in recent months, largely from merchant ships dragging their anchors.The island blacklisted 52 Chinese-owned ships in January while Taiwan’s National Security Bureau has said ships which have previously been found to misreport information will be put on a list of ships for priority inspection at ports.

Moreover, if these ships enter within 24 nautical miles of Taiwan’s coast and are close to where undersea cables are, the coast guard will be dispatched to board them and investigate.

A ship accused at the end of February of damaging cables off Taiwan had a simple way of changing identity.

The Togo-flagged Hongtai 68 was able to change its name many times as the crews simply replaced three steel plates (pictured) at its stern and on its bow whereby it has also recently traded as the Hongtai 58 and Shanmei 7.

The captain of the vessel – dubbed in local media as the ‘thousand faces ship’ – had on an earlier occasion been caught entering Taiwan with false documents.