Ship Registration Case Study

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In older times a ships registration would have been useful as it would enable governments to control ships which carried cargoes all around Europe. The use of registration has changed however nowadays, as it used to determine who is the owner of a vessel as well as ‘’which country's law governs the operation of a ship and the behavior of those onboard’’ (http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/Publications-and-forms/Commercial-operations/Ship-registration/A-guide-to-Ship-Registration.pdf) 16.12.14 So what registering a ship does, is that it ‘’entitles a ship to a nationality’’ (Bareboat and Charter Ship Registration 1997, Chapter 1.6, Paragraph 1, Line 1). The nation a ship will be entitled to, has the right to perform jurisdiction, and has the right…show more content…
To begin with, a very important factor which may affect a ship owner’s decision is the taxation rates within a nation. The lower the taxation within a country, the bigger the ship owner’s profit, thus making taxation a priority factor. Secondly, labour costs are yet another factor ship owners will definitely take into account. Each country has a different minimum wage, and it would be no surprise if a ship owner opted to have a flag which belongs to a nation with a significantly low minimum wage. This would be towards the ship owner’s benefit as operational costs would be lower and personal profits would be maximized. It is a fact that a ship owner would greatly benefit from a foreign flag, as ‘’in the more popular registries owners are free to negotiate the pay and conditions of employment with the crew without the interference of organized labour or host government.’’ as quoted by (Okeke, A., Bareboat Charter (Ship) Registration, Kluwer Law International.) Next, there are the manning requirements factors. In order to achieve high profits as well as minimum operational costs, beneficial manning requirements are essential. A ship owner will opt to choose a flag which has no restrictions (or at least minimal) on manning requirements. The next few factors which may put a ship owner under influence are called non-commercial factors. Non commercial under these circumstances means…show more content…
The ship owner’s aim is to use the flag he will choose to maximize his profits, and at the same time bring his (operational) costs to the greatest minimum possible. He also would like to avoid any types of political conflicts, and any sort of emergency cases (in other words, war). A ship owner therefore has a great responsibility choosing a flag, as he is not only looking for benefits, but he is also looking to avoid any sort of inconveniences such as the ones mentioned previously.
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