Mortgages

Registration, transfer or transmission, and discharge of mortgages against a Cayman-registered vessel may be effected immediately upon submission of the required documentation to the Cayman Registrar.

When a vessel is being registered with Cayman a mortgage document may also be submitted to simultaneously register the interest of any mortgagee in respect of the vessel. The Registrar will record details of the mortgage on the Register and endorse on the mortgage document itself the date and time of registration.

Mortgages rank for priority in order of the date and time of registration and may be in one of two forms:

• Principal Sum and Interest - the Registrar will record the principal sum and interest as agreed, where available.
• Account Current - the Registrar will record that the mortgage amount due at a particular point in time is subject to the sum that is due on the account at that time.

In the event of a ship being seized or impounded, the mortgagee’s interest shall remain registered and subject to a Court Order, if applicable.

Duty and Tax Free

There are no duties or taxes payable to Cayman on the value of the registered mortgage.  The mortgagee (i.e., the lender) need not be a “qualified person/s, company, or entity” nor have a “place of business” in Cayman in order to register a mortgage.

Depositories

A mortgage document may be deposited at one of the following six locations:

• CISRHead Office in George Town, Cayman Islands
• CISR European Regional Office in Southampton, UK
• CISR Representative Office in Athens, Greece
• CISR Representative Office in Tokyo, Japan.
• Cayman Islands Government Office in London, United Kingdom
• CISR Representative Office in Fort Lauderdale, United States

Whether deposited at Head Office or at one of the five other depository locations, the mortgage is registered thereafter in the Register as from the date and time of its initial deposit and remains an encumbrance on the vessel until discharged by Cayman.

A mortgage may be recorded irrespective of the underlying vessel registration type (full; interim; provisional; under construction or demise (bareboat) charter-out) and these mortgages remain so registered until these are discharged, even if the vessels cease to be registered with Cayman.