how convenient

I was excited this morning, while taking the ferry to work, to see a container ship from Liberia in Halifax Harbour.

It was the Sophie Oldendorff registered to Monrovia. Here she is in San Francisco.

Seeing it triggered all these feelings about it being a small world and about how it’s good to see African nations participating in international trade, etc., etc.

Turns out Liberia is just a "flag of convenience" and this ship itself is actually Canadian-owned (by former Prime Minister Paul Martin, in fact!).

I’ve since discovered that a lot of companies register their ships in foreign countries to take advantage of softer safety and labour laws.

How convenient, indeed.