A recent shipping disaster off Belgium has not hurt the reputation of Bermudian shipping, says Transport Minister the Hon. Ralph Marshall.

The Bermudian-registered British Trent collided with the Panamanian bulk carrier Western Winner in heavy fog on June 3. Nine crew members died in the resulting blaze.

Bermuda Capt. Scott King, who was in Ireland at the time, said Bermuda received unfair treatment in the international media coverage. There was talk of "flags of convenience'' for vessels, and "it came over that Bermudian and Panamanian rules were the same''.

In fact, Bermuda's safety regulations for registration closely match those in the United Kingdom, among the strictest in the world. Use of "flags of convenience'' -- registration of ships in countries with lower safety standards -- is a problem in international shipping.

But in a news release, Mr. Marshall disagreed with Capt. King's impression of the media coverage surrounding the incident.

"We observed that the UK press coverage of the British Trent / Western Winner collision made some references to `flags of convenience' but we do not believe this reference was applied to the Bermuda Registry of Shipping,'' Mr. Marshall said.

He noted that British Petroleum Shipping chairman Mr. Lee Atkinson was quoted in London's Daily Telegraph as saying: "Safety regulation under the Bermuda flag was no less safe than under the British.'' The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch is investigating the collision.

"The standards of the Bermuda Registry of Shipping have always been of the highest calibre, and we will continue to maintain those high quality standards,'' Mr. Marshall said. "We have had one of the lowest loss rates per vessel in the world.

"The conclusions and recommendations arising from the investigations into this collision will be closely studied and enhancements to our inspection procedures or regulations will be enacted where necessary.'' From 1987 to 1991, ships with Bermudian registry had a loss rate (the number of ships lost divided by number of ships on the registry) of 0.04 percent, which matched the low rate of loss of ships from the United Kingdom, a spokesman for the Institute of London Underwriters said.

By comparison, ships from Liberia had a loss rate of 0.2 percent, ships from Panama had a loss rate of 0.44 percent, and ships from St. Vincent had a loss rate of one percent, he said.

SEA DISASTER -- Nine died when the Bermuda-registered tanker British Trent went up in flames last week.