Companies and Shipping Entities

Who Can Register a Vessel? A company or shipping entity formed in an EU or EEA country including their overseas countries (such as Aruba) and territories (such as Bermuda) and dependencies (such as the Channel Islands), and having a place of business in any of these countries, overseas countries and territories or dependencies is allowed to register a vessel in Cayman.

Companies formed in other countries (and not qualifying as set out above) but registered in Cayman as foreign companies and having a place of business in the Cayman Islands may also qualify to own Cayman-flagged vessels.

A place of business means the place where meetings of the directors of the body corporate are regularly held.

Partnerships

A shipping entity includes –

• a partnership and a limited partnership as defined in the Cayman Islands Partnership Law
• an exempted limited partnership as defined in the Cayman Islands Exempted Limited Partnership Law
• their equivalences so formed in other qualifying countries or their overseas countries and territories and dependencies.

Companies

A company may be registered as one of four basic types under either the Local Companies (Control) Law or the Companies Law -

• Resident Company (Local Company)
• Non-Resident Company
• Exempted Companies - Transfers by Continuation, Exempted Limited Duration Company, Segregated Portfolio Company
• Foreign Company

Incorporation

The CISR offers preliminary advice but does not register Cayman Islands companies. The Cayman Islands Companies Registry is responsible for the registration of corporate and other ownership entities in the Cayman Islands.

Professional advice on Cayman vessel ownership structures and mortgage protection, and the formation and on-going management of such to best suit an owner’s requirements is provided by a number of firms, all of which are independent of MACI and of the Cayman Islands Companies Registry. These firms are located in Cayman and some have branch offices in other international financial centres such as London, Hong Kong, Dublin and Dubai. The corporate management activities of the Cayman Islands offices of these firms are regulated under the Cayman Islands Companies Management Law and also by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. In this way, our clients can be assured that they are receiving solid professional advice from objective third parties with jurisdiction-specific knowledge.