REQUIREMENTS TO REGISTER A VESSEL UNDER THE PANAMANIAN FLAG

For owners of ships and builders who wish to register their ships under the Panamanian flag, they can do so directly through the General Consulat of Panama in Marseille, the following information will be required:

Full name of ship, with indication of the previous, in case of being the new construction;
Type of your ship, if it is cargo, supply, etc.;
The name of the company or its owner, its nationality and address;
Nationality that renounces the ship;
Its net, gross and the below deck tonnage;
Hull material, indicating whether it is made of wood, cement, iron, steel or mixed;
Gear class;
System of strength of its machines, if it is steam, indicating the number of cylinders, the number of horsepower in KW and knots and the name of the manufacturers.
Main dimensions, length of the ship on the main deck from the sternpost or stem; down the bottom; beam or width of the ship and strut or height of the ship, from its plan to main deck.
Main dimensions, decks, number of masts and number of chimneys;
If it is dedicated to the traffic of passengers, cargo or both;
Place where it was built, the year and name of the Company that built it;
Distinctive sign in the International Code of Signals, and
Other details that serve for the complete identification of the ship.

For the Provisional Regulatory License of Radio Station you need to provide the data of the equipment that the ship has on board.

All previous applies as well on the extension of provisional navigation patent and the extension of Radio station license.

At the moment you make your request to the Consulate you must indicate the type of the flagging you want and the service that the ship will provide:

Special Test Flag
Special Flagging for Assignment
Special Flagging for Scrapping
Special Flagging for Delivery
Special Flagging for Chartering
Regular Flagging of Ships

You must also provide the general information of the resident agent, owners and operators.

Prior to the flagging you must verify the name of the ship you want to enter, does not match the ship already registered.

DOCUMENTS TO PRESENT:

In the case of ships built at the petitioner's expense, the title that must be accompanied will be constituted by a Public Deed granted before a Panamanian Notary Public, before a Panamanian Consul or before an authorized Official for this type of acts in the country of its granting, in which it states:

The protocolization of the construction contract of the ship, Construction Certificate and The transfer Acceptance, which means a declaration by the petitioner in which he states that he has received the ship built at his expense, or constructor's declaration that the ship whose description must be inserted, has been made at the petitioner's expense and that it belongs to him as an owner; as well as the petitioner's statement stating he received the ship and it is in his possession; if concerns the new constructions;
Tonnage certificate of ship or ITC;
Power of Attorney to Resident Agent as Lawyer or Panamanian Company of Lawyers duly legalized by the Panama General Consul;
Duly legalized “Bill of sale” and “Sale Acceptance”
Cancellation certificate of the previous registry, duly legalizes, if applicable;
Safety Management Certificate;

ADVANTAGES OF FLAGGING UNDER THE PANAMA’S PAVILLION

A. DOUBLE REGISTRY

Foreign registry vessels chartered for a term of no more than two years may be registered in the Panamanian Registry, without the need to renounce such foreign registration, if the Government of the country whose registry it belongs so permits. In this case, the interested party must submit an authentic copy of the respective Chartering Contract, including the consent of the owner, Certificate of Registration of the foreign country, and the Certificate of consent of the country to which it belongs, to the Directorate of General Consulates and Ships of Ministry of Finance and Treasury, which in turn, will carry out the corresponding Registry.

These ships must be issued with a Special Navigation Patent and they will have the same fiscal obligations ordinarily imposed by Panamanian legislation on any ship registered in the National Marine Merchant Registry. In the Special Navigation Patent, the name of the owner of the vessel and the charterer, the name of the port of Foreign Registration, and any encumbrances that appear on the Certificate of Foreign Registration must appear.

While said ships maintain this special status, their Property Titles may not be registered in the Public Registry, nor, consequently, may not be registered in said Register: naval mortgages and encumbrances on them. With respect to any naval mortgage registered in the foreign Registry, the law of that foreign country shall apply.

The General Directorate of Consulates and Ships of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury will authorize the issuance of the mentioned Special Navigation Patent, renewable every 2 years, of which a separate record will be kept, and in which the interested party will appear under the classification of "Owner-Charterer ".

B. BARE BOAT CHARTER

Likewise, the Panamanian Registry ships, which are the object of the Charter Agreements for a term of two (2) years, extendable, may be registered in a Foreign Special Registry, without renouncing the Panamanian registry and, that the Government of the country in whose registry you wish to register, have a procedure similar to the one contemplated in this article and the Consular and Ships General Directorate of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, prior approval of the Executive Body, of your consent or permission for such special registration.

The Panamanian registered ships, registered in a Foreign Special Registry, as established in this article, will continue to be the subject to all the legal and fiscal obligations of the Republic, their property titles and mortgages that have on said ships. Any inscription made in violation of this prohibition shall be considered void in the light of national legislation, without any prejudice that the Consular and Ships General Directorate of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury will order the cancelation of Panamanian Registry for the ship.

C. THE PROVISIONAL REGISTRY OR PROVISIONAL PATENTE OF NAVIGATION AND THE REGLEMENTORY RADIO LICENSE PROVISIONAL

The issuance of the Provisional Navigation Patent Certificates and the Provisional Regulatory Radio License may be issued at the Consulate of your choice and is valid for six (6) months. The Definitive Regulatory Certificates are only issued in Panama.

The close relation of Panama Maritime Authority with its clients allows these procedures to make at the Marine Merchant’s Consulates of Republic of Panama. Currently the Republic of Panama has 64 Marine Merchant’s Consulate in order you may choose the closest one. Any other Ship Registry do not have this global structure, which makes the Panama Ship Registry the most efficient and secure.

The General Consulate of Panama in Marseille, has all the necessary documentation and equipment in order to issue all of this certificates in the shortest time possible.