Peter Brady, executive director of the Marine Authority of Jamaica.

The Jamaica Ship Registry (JSR) has expanded its international network of representatives, with the appointment of Calvin W. Cheng, chairman of Eastmark (Shipping) Associates, as deputy registrar for the United States and Shanghai.

The signing was witnessed by Dr. Basil Bryan, Consul General to New York, said government news agency JIS.

The JSR already has deputy registrars in Greece, Germany, Finland, Holland, Malta, Monaco and Singapore whose responsibilities include promoting the registry in their locations, acting on behalf of the Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ), and providing relevant feedback on JSR vessels doing business in their locations.

Marketing the registry

Director General of the MAJ, Rear Admiral Peter Brady, explained that by appointing deputy registrars, the marine authority was looking to "like-minded companies and individuals" to market the registry around the world.

"We have been working hard to shore up our global deputy registrar network by spreading the net further to include the essential U.S. and Asian markets, something we have now achieved through the appointment of our new deputy registrar for these areas," said Brady.

Jamaica's ship registry, which has been operational for six years, is positioning to build market share in China and Greece, based on data from the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which identified these countries as having a combined 33 per cent share of total deadweight tonnage.

Cheng, a 1974 graduate from the Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences, formed Eastmark (Shipping) Associates, Inc., in 1987 and has successfully placed in excess of US$300 million of ship financing and US$30 million of ship chartering for clients utilising the services of the company.

Benefitting from incentives

Officially launched in 2000, the JSR allows ship owners worldwide to register their vessels under the Jamaican flag, where they benefit from incentives including 24-hour access to the country's ports, prompt service and tax breaks as well as reasonable rates and quality service through its marine survey and technical support programme.

The registry is administered by the MAJ, a statutory arm of the government, whose operations are certified by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) to ISO 9001:2000 quality standards.