The following is the procedure that needs to be followed when an owner wishes to own his yacht through a Gibraltar tax exempt company and the yacht be registered on the British Register of Shipping.
A notice of name proposed form is submitted to the Register of Shipping to obtain clearance and reserve the name of the yacht.
If the yacht is new, the Builder's Certificate should be made in favour of the company. Where the yacht is a re-sale, or the client already owns the yacht, the vendor signs a Bill of Sale in favour of the Company. This document must be notarised.
Before the yacht can be registered it must be surveyed by a member of one of the approved classification societies and a tonnage measurement taken. This survey merely ascertains the tonnage and is in no way an examination of the yacht's condition. The survey is made wherever the yacht is lying, and the client pays the surveyor's fees.
Yachts holding International Tonnage Certificate are advised that under the rules for the registration of ships under the Merchant Shipping Acts of the United Kingdom, the vessels must be measured by authorised Surveyors recognised by the Department of Trade for the purposes of British Registry. Accordingly the yacht will still require a tonnage survey.
The necessary applications together with the Builders Certificate/Bill of sale and Survey are filed by us at the Registry of Pleasure Yachts and a Carving and Marking Note will be issued. The Carving and Marking contains the registered tonnage, official number, name of yacht and the Port of registry. A Plaque will have to be made containing the registered tonnage and the official number. This plaque is then placed inside the yacht.
Once this is done then the note is signed by the Registered Agent/Representative Person and returned to the Registry, who will then issue the vessel's Certificate of British Registry.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.