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Port of Registry. Help needed.

PostPosted: Thu Dec 31, 2015 9:27 pm
by E28
Merchant ship port of registry is a subject leaving me somewhat confused.
Could any of our many learned merchant navy members explain how and when after completion a merchant ship becomes registered, that is, its port of registry which it displays and details of which appear in the appropriate Lloyd's registers.
For example a particular Fort class cargo ship i am researching is built in Vancouver, Canada but registered in Middlesborough.
Many others are registered in Vancouver, some in other British ports, London, Hull amongst them.
Then others are registered in 1 port and subsequently changed, often more than once with all this whilst WW2 was still going on.
Finally, were many merchants registerd in Middlesborough.
Thanks for any and all help.
May i wish all our members a most enlightening 2016.

Re: Port of Registry. Help needed.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 12:57 am
by Whickham
I am no expert but my understanding is that the Owner choses the Port of Registry, where they pay a fee and the ship is registered. In the past, Newcastle based owners would chose to register their ships in Newcastle, but there was no compulsion to do so. We have been doing some research on ships built on the Wear and one I was doing recently was built on the Wear for Newcastle owners and registered at Newcastle. The ship was sold to a Sunderland owner but the ship remained registered at Newcastle. Then the ship was sold to another Sunderland owner who moved the registration from Newcastle to Sunderland.

Of course now the choice is which country do I choose to register the ship in, the UK, Panama, Liberia, Vantanu or wherever. The choice will determine the cost and the regulations that I have to adhere to. Hope this helps.

Re: Port of Registry. Help needed.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 01, 2016 7:30 am
by northeast
I don't have specific info re the first ports of registry for the Fort and Park types built in Canada, but guess they may have been registered in their build port then transferred to a UK registry after delivery to Min of War Transport or later, on sale to commercial owners.
As for Middlesbrough as a p.o.r., yes it was not to my knowledge a major one for deep-sea vessels but there were a number of local owners such as Constantine and North Yorkshire Shipping (part of Bolton) who used it, plus other coaster owners in the past.
Example here
RIBBLEHEAD1957.jpg

PARKWOOD1933.jpg

Re: Port of Registry. Help needed.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 7:20 pm
by E28
Dave and George,
Your explanations are much appreciated.
As you say, apparently few Middlesborough registered ships.
Regards and happy new year.

Re: Port of Registry. Help needed.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 8:40 pm
by teesships
Sean, I would like to gently point out to you the correct spelling of MIDDLESBROUGH!
You are not alone in getting my home town name wrong!

Ron

Re: Port of Registry. Help needed.

PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 12:52 am
by wreckmaster
E28 wrote:Finally, were many merchants registerd in Middlesborough.

The Clip website will give you a list of vessels for each port, upto 1940 (at ten year intervals)
http://www.crewlist.org.uk/data/vesselsport.php

Re: Port of Registry. Help needed.

PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 7:23 am
by northeast
Thanks for that Mick, I had not noticed that search facility.
A search on M'bro 1930 shows trading vessels of Donkin and Constantine and the rest are mainly local port craft and tugs including of course my namesake tug, which unhelpfully sank just before I was born :cry:

Re: Port of Registry. Help needed.

PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 5:27 pm
by magoonigal
I had not realised that search facility existed either. That's going to be very useful.

Thanks Mick.