malaysian boat registration

[brunocean]

Anyone has any experience with registering his boat in Malaysia? It seems too good to be true: Very cheap, no import duty, all legal... see this:Malaysian Boat Registration
Bob McKean from langkawi marine guide (The Marine Guide) used to provide the full registration for very little, unfortunately he passed away recently. Any advise before the jump?

[sailingdog]

Just curious, but what country are you a citizen of? Also, what waters do you plan on sailing your boat in? Both of those may have some bearing on whether a Malaysian registration makes sense. Registering where it is the least expensive can often come back to bite you on the backside.

[brunocean]

well, i guess not many Malaysian flags around...
To answer your question, i am french and live on the oceans for 30 years. I could say a lot about the pro and cons of the most common flags (my last 2 boats were US flagged) the Malaysian one look just very easy to get, very cheap to keep, no taxes and good enough when you sail the pacific and the Indian ocean. But it is always good to hear from real experience!

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by brunocean

well, i guess not many Malaysian flags around...
To answer your question, i am french and live on the oceans for 30 years. I could say a lot about the pro and cons of the most common flags (my last 2 boats were US flagged) the Malaysian one look just very easy to get, very cheap to keep, no taxes and good enough when you sail the pacific and the Indian ocean. But it is always good to hear from real experience!

Just curious, but if you're a French citizen, how could you have US flagged boats? USCG Documentation REQUIRES the owner to be a US CITIZEN.

[brunocean]

very simple: you create a corporation (Ltd) who own the boat and as a foreigner you can own the shares of the corporation. If you need more details ask any lawyer who deal with maritime stuff, my corporation was registered in New England since i lived there and still have many friends... It is legal and very straight forward. However the Malaysian flag is even more simple and cheaper (no need for a corporation) so i may go for that one if i find good feedback. (you may ask why i don't have a french flag? because i will buy my next boat in the usa and it is too much hassle to go with french rules...) Cheers...

[paulk]

As SD says, a US documented vessel cannot be majority owned by foreign nationals. The corporation must stipulate that this is the case in filing. It makes me wonder if Bruno's lawyer may own 51% of the boat. As a cruiser, the downside of registering with a "flag of convenience" is the feeling of deception that fellow cruisers get when they row over to welcome a Malaysian vessel and find out that, no, you're really something else than what you've got showing on your transom. What other falsehoods might you subject them to? Being able to trust the others in your anchorage is valuable. I'm not so sure a cheaper registration is worth that.

[sailingdog]

Having a vessel flagged in a different country than the owner's citizenship can raise flags with customs in many countries.

[Omatako]

Yes I'm struggling to see the point as well.

One of the singular largest benefits I can see of having my vessel registered to the country in which I hold citizenship is that when things go wrong in a foreign country I can depend on my government to intervene and lend a hand (assuming of course I haven't broken any fundamental laws).

The way I see it is that if I am (for example) a New Zealand citizen and I have a New Zealand registered vessel then technically I am on New Zealand soil wherever I go and could expect to get diplomatic support. Or is that a naive notion?

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by Omatako

Yes I'm struggling to see the point as well.

One of the singular largest benefits I can see of having my vessel registered to the country in which I hold citizenship is that when things go wrong in a foreign country I can depend on my government to intervene and lend a hand (assuming of course I haven't broken any fundamental laws).

The way I see it is that if I am (for example) a New Zealand citizen and I have a New Zealand registered vessel then technically I am on New Zealand soil wherever I go and could expect to get diplomatic support. Or is that a naive notion?

Not if you have a government that actually cares about its citizens.

[agrainofsand]

$ 133.00 USD for orig. documentation and free renewls for life such a deal. I live on my boat,currently in Mexico it will always be US flagged.