Panamanian Lawyer Highlights Registry's Significance
In recent trade press interview Morgan & Morgan partner Juan David Morgan, Jr. outlines the importance of the Panamanian Ship Registry to the country's economy and asserts that a government-managed registry can operate efficiently and to high standards.
Defender of the Flag
...
Morgan & Morgan is the leading Panamanian firm in ship registration and its head of maritime law is a foremost advocate of the Panama Ship Registry. He noted that direct government revenues from the registry alone total about $150M a year.
“If you add the effect of the companies’ registry and indirect revenues, the figure could be as much as $300M – and as the revenues come from abroad, it is a service that Panama exports. Its value can be equated to Panama having a $6Bn bank account bearing 5% interest per year,” he noted.
“Even though there are very good officials that give their utmost to maintain the ship registry’s efficiency, government after government has taken it for granted,” said Morgan. “The Panama Maritime Authority [AMP] and its directorate that runs the ship registry has been considered and treated as a political bounty by successive governments. The result has been a gradual loss in competitiveness vis-a-vis other registries,” he maintained.
While some of his colleagues believe the only way to improve the performance of the ship registry is to privatise or ‘corporatise’ its operation, Morgan disagrees. “I do not consider it necessary for the Panamanian ship register to be put in the hands of a private company in order for it to become more efficient.
“Perhaps some colleagues take that view out of frustration with the way in which the ship registry is now administered, but one need only consider the other major authority handling maritime affairs in Panama, the Panama Canal Authority, to accept that a government entity, if the government wants, can also be very efficient.
“Whether it is through corporatisation of the ship registry’s operations – I am not opposed to it, but think that is not strictly necessary – or having a more efficient AMP, the first thing in the order of business would be for an intelligent president to recognise the value of the ship registry to Panama and thereafter act as a good pater familias.
“Although it benefits the people of Panama, the value of the ship registry is not something that could be grasped by the masses. But once that value is recognised by those in power, the ship registry can be given the attention it deserves and adequate funds can be invested in improving the quality of service to its customers,” said Morgan, who believes “the principal and foremost investments have to be in technology”.
He noted that “this current government has taken some positive steps to improve the proficiency of the register, such as moving the registration of titles and mortgages on ships from the public registry, where real estate properties, companies, and liens are registered, to inside the AMP building, thereby unifying all services that are required for the full registration of a vessel and its liens under one roof.
“However, much further investment is needed in technology to allow the ship register to provide an even more productive service. For instance, consulates should be able to independently register a title or a mortgage on a vessel instead of necessarily having to rely on the head office.
“A centralised system for the registration of titles and mortgages is one of the most beneficial aspects of the Panamanian register, but such system should be accessed from all service centres [mostly consulates], where the clients are.
“It is good that Panama has competition,” he asserted. “Competition forces all open registers to strive to be better, while allowing shipowners and financial institutions to receive better services. Panama just has to be better than the rest.”
Morgan's comments are enlightening given the developments in Belize this past month and the OGSR looks forward to following the discussion of registry models further.
