BAKU - With a GDP just over 2 billion USD, most people don’t think of Liberia as a seafaring nation, let alone a shipping juggernaut. Yet, that’s precisely what it is in technical terms. More than 4,400 vessels, or about 12 per cent of global shipping, are registered in the small West African nation. Which makes Liberia’s merchant fleet the second largest in the world, and they transport everything from container cargos to cruise ship passengers, along with much of the oil imported by the United States and China. The truth in the equation is that all flags are not alike, and the secret to Liberia’s shipping industry lies in its banner, which grants shipowners a cheap and lightly regulated place to call home.