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IV.
CENTRALISATION OF REGISTRATION IN THE UK
20. At present there are 109 designated ports of registry
around the coast of the United Kingdom and Registrars are
in post at nearly all of them although in some places the
level of registrations hardly justifies the resources involved.
At each port a register is maintained in large ledger-books,
in accordance with the requirements of the 1894 Act, in which
the details of each ship have to be entered in manuscript.
This information is passed to the Registrar General at Cardiff
where it is collated with returns from other ports of registry,
including those overseas, and a General Register is maintained.
A list of British ships is published every year, but analysis
of the information available on the Register is difficult.
It is generally accepted that the current system is expensive
to operate, time-consuming and archaic and that it should be
replaced by more modern arrangements reflecting current
requirements.
Many ships do not now operate from or call
at their port of registry, and it is not necessary for the
process of registration to take place at the port concerned,
nor indeed at any port. Inspection of documents in support
of an application for registration, the issue of certificates
of registry and all other transactions relating to sale,
registration of title and mortgage, can be carried out centrally
without any disadvantage to the shipowner. Since the regis-
tration fee is set at a level such as to achieve full cost
recovery, any savings in administrative costs would automatically
be passed on to the user. Moreover, updating of information
and the provision of extracts and "transcripts" from the
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