The annual Monaco Yacht Show is unparalleled in both luxury and importance among the global yachting community. With more than 44 new launches, 125 extraordinary one-off superyachts on display worth more than EUR 4 billion combined, and 30,000 visitors arriving from every corner of the globe, the numbers speak to the scale of the event.
Several members of IRI/The Marshall Islands Registry yacht team based out of Geneva and Roosendaal attended the show.
As one of the leading shipping registries, the RMI has used its pedigree and extensive industry experience to develop a thriving yacht registry. Today, the RMI Yacht Registry is an increasingly popular choice for yacht owners especially with options for yacht owners such as the Yachts Engaged in Trade (YET) initiative.
The RMI was the first flag State to provide such a dual use flagging option for the superyacht market; a program that allows owners to charter their yacht to third parties and use their yacht privately without having to pay value added tax on their personal use all while still complying with customs, safety, port State control (PSC), and flag State regulations.
Patrick Bachofner, Director, Business Development at IRI’s Geneva office said:
The role of the flag State for the yacht industry is to interpret regulations which are set by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), then apply these rules and requirements to the yacht segment. This is translated in the RMI Yacht Code, which is stringent in its requirements, yet unique in that it caters to the particular requirements of superyachts. Given the trend toward ever larger and more unique superyachts on display here in Monaco, it is clear that we can provide real value.
We have found that many owners are attracted to flagging with the Marshall Islands initially because of our allowance of more than 12 guests aboard a private yacht, but they have been able to utilize our team’s expertise from the moment of conception through to operation, and our reputation continues to grow.
