The Turkish second register

AFTER many years of work and discussion by the authorities, including the state ministry responsible for shipping and the Turkish Chamber of Shipping, the Turkish International Ships' Registry became operational last year.

During the preparation stages, the Norwegian International Ship Register (NIS) was used as an example. In reality, however, the Turkish second register is very different from the NIS. For example, owners of vessels can still keep their right of Turkish cabotage, while vessels registered in the NIS cannot carry goods or passengers between Norwegian ports.

Any of the following vessels can be registered with the second register, without limitation of age:

  • vessels which were registered before TUGS in the National Registry (TMGS)
  • any vessel built in Turkey
  • any vessel which has a greater dwt than 12,000m/tons (for passenger and special purpose ships it is 499gt. Special purpose means tugs, salvage vessels, drilling vessels, etc)

and fly the Turkish flag:

  • commercial ships (cargo, passenger, open sea fishing vessels)
  • yachts (which cannot be considered as cargo or passenger ships, used for tourism and sports purposes with a maximum capacity of 36 persons and registered in the inventory of a tourism company with a remark of 'touristic yacht' in the tonnage certificate)

provided that the vessels are owned by Turkish citizens and foreigners who are resident in Turkey (foreign owners can register their ships with no minimum time for residency) and the vessels are owned by companies established as per the Turkish regulations. Again, any foreign owner who establishes a company in Turkey can register the vessels in the second register. There are, however, some special regulations regarding the employment of seafarers (see main article).

Owners will be exempt from income and company taxes. There will be no tax or dues for sale and purchase, mortgage, contracts of affreightment and all other banking and insurance contracts (Article 12/1). Salaries paid to seafarers are also exempt from income tax.

The dues involved are:

  • Registration fees: $10,000 plus $1 per net ton
  • Dues per annum: $1 per net ton in two instalments

There is a deduction of 50 per cent for vessels entered into the Turkish Lloyd classification society. Those vessels can be insured by foreign insurance companies (Article 13)