RMI Ship Registry
The Marshall Islands has the world’s third (see footnote) largest ship registry, which is administered by the American company International Registries, Inc. (IRI). From its headquarters in Reston, Virginia, IRI operates the flag of convenience ship registry. In March, 2017, the total tonnage of vessels live and under construction reached 231.8 million dead weight tons.
The company has 27 branches around the world. Locally, IRI works through the RMI Trust Company, which is located in Ajeltake, Long Island. Each year the RMI receives a check for a few million dollars, an amount that has steadily grown in recent years.
Commercial vessels registered with the company use the home port of Majuro. Private yachts may choose between the home port of Bikini or Jaluit. Go to www.register-iri.com for more information.
Follows are some more shots of Majuro registered ships taken by William Van Dorp, who has a blog about ships worldwide at tugster.wordpress.com
Footnote: The ship registry had been in second place until February, 2019. Follows is an excerpt from a story in the Marshall Islands Journal.
February 8, 2019:
Liberia surpassed the RMI to again become the world’s second largest ship registry. This is correct if only so-called “bluewater” — ocean going — vessels are counted. In gross tonnage, Liberia holds a small lead on the RMI registry, 153.7 million gross tons to 153.1 million gross tons in the bluewater category. But when gross tonnage of “offshore” platforms, which are oil drilling rigs, is included, the RMI remains in second place. The RMI flags a larger number of drilling rigs than Liberia. The RMI’s combined bluewater and offshore gross tonnage rounds out to 162.4 million gross tons compared to Liberia’s combined gross tonnage of 159.5 million. Both are behind world ship registry leader Panama, which flags 228.6 million gross tons of bluewater and offshore vessels. The shipping analyst Clarksons’ World Fleet Monitor 2019 issued last month provided the information that Liberia had overtaken the RMI ship registry in gross tonnage.
