Belize Shipping Legislation

The Registration of Merchant Shipping Act (the "Act"), which set up the Belize open ship registry, the International Merchant Shipping Registry of Belize (IMMARBE), was adopted in 1989. In 1991 the Registration of Merchant Shipping (Registration and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations (the "Regulations") was passed to complement the Act; and in 1996, the Act was amended by the Registration of Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act, which intended to correct certain misnomers that showed in the Act in relation with the Regulations.

As the registry grew it was decided to upgrade the Act and the Regulations by a new single code of laws, and as a result of this, the Merchant Shipping (Registration) Act 2010 was approved on 23 October 2010 (the "New Act").

The New Act is comprised of twelve Parts and 115 provisions and is adopted in concurrence with the Athens Conventions 1973 and Protocols, and the Salvage Convention 1989.

New provisions are included in the New Act, which can be summarised as follows:

1. Mortgages:

   The New Act introduces a new statutory mortgage, i.e. a standard mortgage form, so that by completing and notarising the form and attaching thereto the loan agreement, deed of covenant or other document of obligation and filing such form at IMMARBE the mortgage is recorded; albeit, retaining the allowance for...