WILLEMSTAD - "There is a lot of interest from Dutch shipping companies in the Curaçao Ship Registry," says Willemieke Princée (39) on the maritime website de Schuttevaer.
Princée is a specialist in maritime law at the law firm Ox and Wolf. She is also vice chairman of the Curaçao Maritime Association, CMAR.
"Because Curaçao is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a ship registered here can fly the Dutch flag without being bound by EU regulations. That ship then falls under Curaçao's tax rules."
According to Princée, a well-functioning ship registry can fill part of the gap created by a shrinking trust sector. "It generates money and jobs for Curaçao!"
Not yet attractive
But it's not there yet. The Curaçao Ship Registry is not doing well, and it is currently not very attractive for shipowners to register their vessels here, as the Royal Association of Dutch Shipowners, KVNR recently stated.
The desire to change this was conveyed by the Dutch Shipowners to the Ministry of Traffic, Transport and Spatial Planning, the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Maritime Authority in Curaçao.
Action plan
The Curaçao government provided support for an action plan that the KVNR will develop together with the government and market parties to make the ship registry attractive for shipowners as soon as possible.
The economic spin-off is essential for Curaçao in this regard. The KVNR has emphasized that a well-functioning coastal and port state in Curaçao is a prerequisite for having a flag state (registry).