Ownership Requirements

Home There are no restrictions on ownership of St. Kitts and Nevis ships, this being available to St. Kitts & Nevis corporations, foreign corporations and individuals.

When a ship is first registered with St. Kitts & Nevis International Ship Registry and the ship is owned by a St. Kitts & Nevis corporation having its registered office in the Federation or a St. Kitts & Nevis national or citizen resident in the Federation, that owner will be entitled to a 50% reduction off the Registration fee.

Full ownership requirements are detailed in the Merchant Shipping Act and Ship Ownership Qualification Regulations available on this website or by application to the International Registrar of Shipping & Seamen.

Maritime Resident Agent (Representative Person)

A Representative Person is a requirement of the Registrar for Ship Registration. According to the Ship Ownership Qualification Regulations 2005, the Representative Person so appointed shall be a "regulated business activity" according to the Proceeds of Crime Act, 2000. How to obtain details of available Service Providers is on this site.
Example Letter for Appointment which has to be submitted for Registration is as shown

Port of Registry

In accordance with The Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Act of 2005, the Port of Registry may be either "Basseterre", on the island of St. Kitts or "Charlestown", on the island of Nevis. In accordance with the Registrar's operational procedures from 1st May 2005;
  1. The Port of Registry for foreign individuals, foreign corporations or St. Kitts corporations will be "Basseterre" and
  2. The Port of Registry for Nevis corporations will be "Charlestown"
Before 1st May 2005, the Port of Registry was Port Zante. Those ships are already registered with the PoR as "Port Zante", will continue to use "Port Zante" which will be shown as the PoR on the certificates for their ship(s)