More than 10 non-Italian ships managed by NGOs operating in the Mediterranean to rescue migrants could risk being blocked from entering Italian ports, as the Italian government deliberates whether to implement a ban of this type in light of the high number of recent migrant arrivals at Italian ports.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) operates three non-Italian ships in the Mediterranean in migrant rescue operations: Dignity I, flying a Panamanian flag with a gross tonnage of 645 tonnes, Bourbon Argos, with a Luxembourgian flag and a gross tonnage of 2,343 tonnes and Aquarius, with a Gibraltarian flag and a gross tonnage of 1,812 tonnes.
Between April and November 2016, these three ships directly rescued 19,708 people at sea, according to the most recent data on the MSF website. Aquarius operates in cooperation with the Italian-French-German association SOS Mediterranée, which said on its website that it costs 11,000 euros each day the ship is active at sea.
Another ship, Prudence, has been working for MSF since March. It can host 600 people aboard, with an additional 400 in cases of extreme necessity. Prudence, however, flies an Italian flag and thus wouldn't be affected by the potential port ban. MOAS, Lifeboat and Sea Watch Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), founded by Italian-American entrepreneurs Christopher and Regina Catrambone, has saved 33,000 migrants at sea, according to its website. It has two ships: the 40-metre Phoenix, with a Belize flag and the 51-metre Topaz Responder, flying a Marshall Islands flag.
Lifeboat works with one ship, the 23-metre Minden, with a German flag. The German organisation Sea Watch operates two ships: Sea Watch 1 and Sea Watch 2, both 30 metres long with Dutch flags. The organisation Sea-Eye operates two ships flying German flags: the 26-metre former German fishing boat Sea-Eye, which is nearly 60 years old and was used until 2014 for worldwide fish transport, and its sister ship, Seefuchs (Seafox), which was initially a fishing boat and then used for tourism before the organisation bought it in March.
The Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms operates the 37-metre Golfo Azzurro, which flies a Panamanian flag and has a gross tonnage of 350 tonnes. Jugend Rettet operates one ship, the 33-metre Juventa, with a Dutch flag.