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Cayman Registry’s Performance as at October 2018

Cayman Registry's Performance as at October 2018
George Town, CAYMAN ISLANDS

The Cayman Islands Shipping Registry (also known as the Cayman Registry) continues to strive towards excellence, ensuring that the infrastructure for our maritime industry is sound, responsive and dynamic. This proactive approach has solidified Cayman as the centre of choice in the very competitive maritime market. MACI’s ethos “Client Focused, Excellence, Innovation and Quality” remains at the heart of everything the Registry does.

Cayman Registry Performance 2018
Evidencing the steady growth of the Register, as at the end of October 2017, there were 2,166 vessels registered with 5.12 million gross tonnes (GRTm) as compared to this year’s end of October figures totaling 2,213 vessels on the Register, reflecting 5.47 million gross tonnes (GRTm).

The Registry’s fleet breakdown includes commercial vessels in addition to pleasure and local vessels.

There was a total of 326 commercial units on the Register equalling 4.82 GRTm. These include commercial yachts 30 meters and above and pleasure yachts 36G, both of which are vessels  engaged in trade.  These commercially certified vessels allow the owner to charge for the use of the yacht for chartering purposes.  Additionally, merchant vessels are counted in the commercial category which would include bulk carriers, chemical tankers, oil tankers, as examples. 

The number of Pleasure Yachts registered for this period was 1,781 with a total GRTm of 0.65. This category of vessel includes commercially coded yachts under 30 metres and pleasure yachts strictly for private use.

The number of local vessels registered was 106 with a GRTm total of 0.004. This category includes Local Passenger Ships, Dive Boats and Fishing Vessels.

The Cayman Islands has roughly half the market share of superyacht registrations, these are classed yachts with a length of 30 metres and above. Within the ultra-large segment of the superyacht industry, which are yachts with a length of 80 metres and above, the Cayman Islands has over 80% of the market share, making Cayman, by far, the dominating flag state.

Of the yachts registered by October 2018, 471 were coded. This term is used for yachts that have been certified to one of the yacht codes (REG Pt A (LY3) or CYC (Cayman Yacht Code)) and either maintains a Certificate of Code Compliance, which means that they are eligible to charter with up to 12 guests, or comply on voluntary basis (i.e. have a Statement of Code Compliance). These coded yachts undergo annual safety inspections to ensure that they are operated and maintained to the high standards that Cayman Registry is known for.  

Leading the way in regulatory and advisory services, Cayman has become recognised for its technical excellence.  The highly skilled technical staff that work for the Cayman Registry has been involved in the majority of the largest newbuild yacht projects in the world over the last 20 years.  As such, they can offer the best possible advice to the owners and are able to find pragmatic solutions to new and novel designs, without compromising the high quality and safety levels that Cayman is known for in the industry. Of the superyachts currently being built world-wide, approximately 45% are being built under the supervision of the Cayman Registry, which equates to 141 yachts. As many of these vessels are under construction for several years and given the long standing, trusted relationship with Cayman’s technical team, there is a strong possibility that once the vessel’s construction has been completed, the owner will choose to fully register it with the Cayman Registry.

Cayman offers mortgage registration services for all registered vessels.  At the end of October, there were 439 vessel mortgages registered with the Cayman Registry.  The registration of a vessel’s mortgage provides security to the mortgagee as the vessel shall not be transferred to a new owner, deleted from the Cayman Register or have any further mortgages recorded without the prior written consent of the mortgagee. 

A good indicator of upcoming business, is the recorded 79 vessel name reservations.  It is common practice for owners to secure their vessel names of choice on a given register before they are fully registered.  There are 3 ports in the Cayman Islands where vessel names can be reserved – George Town, The Creek and Bloody Bay.

Approximately 50% of the Cayman-registered fleet, being 1,137 vessels at the end of this period, are owned by Cayman-incorporated companies.  Cayman has highly specialized professional service providers and is naturally the preferred choice for the discerning vessel owner who utilise these professionals to incorporate the owning companies.  Interestingly, of those who attended the last biennial Vessel Registration training in 2016, hosted by the Cayman Registry, about 65% of them were women, indicating that females have a stong presence amongst the maritime services private sector providers in Cayman.

The Cayman Islands plays an important role on the global maritime stage by providing quality vessel registration, regulatory and advisory services. Cayman Registry operates in a jurisdiction that has one of the most modern and comprehensive legal frameworks that exist today for shipping and maritime administration in the world. The accolades that the Cayman Islands continues to receive in the global maritime industry elevates the jurisdiction to be seen as the gold standard in the industry.