Bareboat Charter

The Shipping Act 1994 permits bare-boat chartering in and out of the Barbados flag. Ships already registered with Barbados flag may opt to bare-boat charter under another flag, whilst maintaining suspended registration status with Barbados. Mortgages may continue to be recorded but the ship would be operating under the laws of the ‘secondary’ flag. 

For a ship wishing to bare-boat charter in to Barbados, consent from the foreign flag would be required, or evidence that such consent was not required.

In all cases, a copy of the charter-party agreement must be provided to the Registrar, clearly stating the commencement date, intended duration of the charter period (which should normally be for a period of between two to five years, with extensions possible thereafter) .and the full name and address of the parties to the agreement. Any such charter-party must be in English and we would recommend the use of BIMCO standard BARECON agreements. 

Refer to our Bareboat Charter – Checklist 9 here.

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