The Republic of Liberia made changes to its maritime laws in response to the rise of lease financing structures in the shipping industry, the country's maritime registry announced.
The new amendments to Liberian laws will ease ship financing, with ship owners now able to “record a lease type financing structure as a preferred lien against the vessel,” Liberian Registry chief executive Scott Bergeron told TradeWinds.
The new laws allow lease financing structures to be recorded as mortgages, which Bergeron described as an “innovative financing structure” that aims at easing ship financing in a still recovering finance market.
This makes Liberia the only flag state with preferred status in China able to record financing charters similar to ship mortgages, the Liberian Registry said.
Under the new laws, it is not necessary for evidence of mortgage debt to be provided or recorded together with mortgage instruments.
They also make provision for a definitive definition of the term ‘vessel’ under Liberian law that includes permanently moored watercraft.
It also reduces the number of original mortgage instruments required to record a Liberian mortgage and clarifications related to the physical marking of the vessel.
