War Story 1: Never Buy a Vessel Before Confirming that a Registry Will Accept It

BUYING TIP: Always confirm that the vessel registry you want to use will accept your new vessel before you commit to buy it.  Background: Our client wanted to buy a tug that had been laid up for several years and needed a lot of work to become operational. He was ready to commit before thinking to verify whether the tug met the requirements of the vessel registry he wanted to use. The Problem: Vessel registries vary, each with their own unique acceptance criteria. Some may require a new owner to make costly repairs before they will accept the vessel into their registry. By failing to check with the desired registry beforehand, the buyer risked buying a tug that he couldn’t use as intended and would be difficult to re-sell. A backup plan was to use a sub-standard registry with low acceptance requirements but that could have led to other problems, such as increased Port State Control inspections and possible detention by the Coast Guard. They could require expensive work to be performed before allowing the vessel to sail. Action Taken and Outcome: We advised our client to obtain a preliminary decision from the registry on accepting the tug and under what conditions. Following our advice, the buyer discovered that the registry would not accept the tug without extensive and unaffordable repairs. The buyer dodged a bullet this time and walked away from the sale before committing. Conclusion: By taking our advice, the buyer avoided making a very costly mistake that could have caused his company to fail. Always verify before you buy! Send DataSend Data