TNAG-0358-FCO40-394-Registration-of-merchant-shipping-in-Hong-Kong-1972 — Page 19

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and the conditions of registry originally called for a proportion of crew members to be Singapore nationals. has now been changed to a system in which registration fees are reduced if Singapore crews are employed.

6.

The simple inclusion of the ship's name on the register of a flag of convenience country does not bring the earnings of the ship into that country or subject the profits derived from its operation to that country's tax laws. If the law were altered to allow foreign owners to register their ships in Britain or Hong Kong therefore, and foreign shipowners did so, their profits would not thereby become subject to UK or Hong Kong tax nor would their earnings thereby contribute to the balance of payments. fact there is no reason why the ship concerned should even visit Britain or Hong Kong merely because it happened to be registered there. The only economic benefit is therefore income from the registration fees which would be offset by administrative costs.

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7.

In

Apart from this there might arguably be some slight political advantage in the registration of foreign ships in the UK or Hong Kong, in the sense that the government of registry may on occasion be able to exercise some limited influence over the owners of ships on its register. For example Liveria (under pressure from the US Government) some years ago ordered owners of ships registered in its territory not to trade to Cuba. The only sanction available to Liberian government was deletion of the ship from the register but this sanction may have carried some weight because Liberian ships (many of which are admittedly US- owned) did not in fact call at Cuba.

8. Nor is there any particular advantage in simply inflating the register by adding the names of foreign ships. Liberia now has some 42 m. gross tons. But this does not give them any significant influence in international shipping bodies such as ICO where they pay more dues than anyone else and their views, when expressed, are disregarded.

3.