Registration of a yacht in the Cayman Islands. Service offer

Section 4(1) of the Merchant Shipping Act, 2024) (the “Law”) sets the following exhaustive list of persons qualified to own a ship registered in the Cayman Islands:

1. British citizens;
2. British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies citizens;
3. British Overseas citizens;
4. British subjects;
5. persons who, under the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986, are British Nationals (Overseas);
6. Cayman Islands citizens;
7. persons, other than those referred to in paragraphs 1 to 6, who are nationals or citizens of a Member State of the European Union, European Economic Area or an approved country, including the overseas countries, territories or dependencies of such Member State or country;
8. bodies corporate, shipping entities or foreign companies incorporated, established or registered in
   1. the United Kingdom or any of its Overseas Territories or Crown Dependencies;
   2. a Member State of the European Union or European Economic Area, including any overseas country, territory or dependency of such a Member State; or
   3. an approved country or any overseas country, territory or dependency of such an approved country; and
9. foreign companies as defined in section 183 of the Companies Act (2023 Revision) carrying on business within the Islands which comply with all the requirements of foreign companies under that law.

The Law provides for the registration of

• (a) ships under construction,
• (b) ships in respect of which a provisional certificate of registry is issued, and
• (c) mortgaged ships.

A ship cannot use a name that is already in use by another ship or a name that has already been reserved. Therefore, you will need to provide three names to be checked at the Registry to see whether they can be used.

The annual fee for acting as an Authorized Representative for a ship is USD 1 900. There is also an additional fee for onboarding, which is USD 900 per ship.

The cost of registering a ship is estimated based on the time spent at an average rate of USD 200 per hour. Since full registration can be time-consuming, agents require a retainer of at least USD 3 750.

The annual tonnage fee is calculated by the Shipping Registry based on the total tonnage of the ship. The minimum fee is USD 400 per year.

Section 5 of the Law states that no ship can be registered until a local representative person has been appointed in relation to the ship, which role our Cayman agents are prepared to perform.

Section 6(2) of the Law requires the local representative person in relation to the ship to be

• (a) an individual resident in the Cayman Islands; or
• (b) a body corporate incorporated in the Islands and having a place of business there.

It is important to note that, despite the right to register a ship in the Cayman Islands, the Chief Executive Officer of the Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islands may instruct the Registrar not to register a ship if he believes that registration of the ship would be detrimental to the interests of the Islands or of international shipping based on

• (a) the condition of the ship,
• (b) the safety, health and welfare of persons employed or engaged in any capacity on board the ship,
• (c) the possibility of illegal use of the ship, or
• (d) the record of the ship owner’s management and operational quality.

Accordingly, agents should be informed of any adverse circumstances mentioned in points (a) to (d) above prior to registering a ship in the Cayman Islands.

Section 8(1) lists several noteworthy reasons why the Registrar may terminate the registration of a ship in the Cayman Islands:

• (a) if a penalty imposed on the owner of a Cayman Islands registered ship for a contravention of the Law has remained unpaid for more than three months;
• (b) if the tonnage fees have remained unpaid for more than two years;
• (c) if a registered ship is no longer entitled to remain registered, for example, because the person qualified to own a Cayman Islands registered ship no longer holds a majority interest in the ship;
• (d) if the owner makes an application to terminate the registration of the ship; or
• (e) if a ship no longer has a local representative person.

• full name, residential address, occupation, citizenship;
• copy of passport/ID and proof of address certified by us/a notary;
• reference letter from a bank or a law firm addressed to the agent;
• completed questionnaire with possible names to be checked, description of the objects of the future company, etc.
• CV.