Advantages
There are many advantages of registering a vessel in the International Shipping Register of Madeira - MAR:
- A register of high quality, credible and secure;
- European community register. Vessels fly the Portuguese flag and can access European Union cabotage;
- All international agreements to which Portugal is a signatory are applicable;
- The income of ships´ crew is completely exempt from the payment of any tax;
- Flexibility relative to crew composition: only 30% of the safety manning have to be European nationals and/or nationals of an official Portuguese-speaking country (Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau and East Timor); vessels owned by Spanish nationals are also authorised to have crew from official Spanish-speaking countries;
- Crew members and their respective employers are exempt from Social Security contributions in Portugal, provided they are covered by another social security system or voluntary insurance policy that covers illness, occupational illness and parenthood. If the crew members are Portuguese or resident in Portugal, they shall be subject to obligatory registration under the Portuguese general social security system with a contribution rate of 2,7%, 0,7% being paid by the crew member and 2% by the employer. It should be stressed that, according to Portuguese law, crew members onboard ships at the service of entities resident in Portugal, are deemed to be resident in Portugal for tax purposes;
- There are no nationality requirements for the owners of vessels registered in MAR;
- Highly competitive registration and service fees; bulk discounts available;
- Mortgages of vessels registered in MAR can be governed by the laws of a different country;
- Access to Europe´s most competitive tax system, if the vessel´s owner is a company operating in the International Business Centre of Madeira;
- Possibility to register the vessels temporarily.
