Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Malaysian Domestic Shipping Licence

GOVERNING LAW

The law that governs domestic shipping is the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952, and its 1977 and 1984 Amendments. In 1994, certain amendments were made to the Ordinance which subsequently were included in the Merchant Shipping Act (Amendment) 1994.

TYPE OF LICENSES ISSUED BY THE
DOMESTIC SHIPPING LICENSING BOARD

1. Since its establishment, the Board has been issuing the following licenses:-
(i) Unconditional license;
(ii) Conditional license; and
(iii) Temporary license.

These licenses are valid for a specific duration, granted at the discretion of the Board up to a maximum of two years. Malaysian registered ships less than ten years will be given a two-year license by the Board subject to the applicant fulfilling all the relevant conditions. Temporary licenses are generally issued to foreign flagged ships for a maximum validity period of 6 months.

2. Conditions to be met by applicant are as follows:
(i) For an individual, or sole-proprietor, he or she must be a Malaysian citizen.
(ii) For an organization/corporation:-
(a) the corporation is incorporated in Malaysia;
(b) the majority of the directors of the corporation are Malaysian citizens;
(c) the majority of the shareholding including the voting share of the corporation is held by Malaysian citizens
free from any trust or obligation in favor of non-Malaysians;
(d) it should have Bumiputra participation of not less than 30% in terms of equity, directors and employees; and
(e) at least 75% of the crew complement of the ship to be licensed must be Malaysian citizens.

FOR FOREIGN REGISTERED SHIP

1.The Domestic Shipping Licensing Board also considers application for license from foreign registered ships in cases when Malaysian registered ships are unable or not available to carry particular cargoes. In this instance, application for license may be submitted by submitting evidence that all possible efforts have been taken to engage locally registered vessel to meet the transportation requirement. Examples of evidence may include advertisements in leading local newspapers and contract documents such as "charter party" or "fixture note" etc.

2. In addition to the above, applicant must write to the Malaysian Shipowners Association (MASA) to obtain its endorsement with regards to availability or non. availability of appropriate Malaysian-flagged vessel(s).

EXEMPTION

The following vessels are exempted from having a license:
(i) ships less than fifteen (15) NRT;
(ii) ships licensed under Section 475;
(iii) for the states of Sabah and Sarawak, ships licensed under Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1960 of these states; and (iv) ships owned or under the employment of the Government of Malaysia, State Governments or
Port Authorities in Malaysia.


LICENSE FEE

Fee is charged for every license approved by the Board as follows:
(i) Malaysian registered ships: RM50 per year or part thereof for ships of fifteen to fifty nett tonnes and ten cent for each additional ton after fifty net registry tones.
(ii) Foreign registered ships: RM200 per year or part thereof for ships of fifteen to fifty nett tonnes and forty cent for each additional ton after fifty nett registered tonnes.

Source: DSL Portal

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