reducing crew costs through flag state / Marshall Islands

Hi, I'm looking at options to reduce operational costs on a 19m. charterboat I'm designing.

Let me quickly frame what's at hand:

The vessel will berth 12 passengers and 2 crew and in terms of those space requirements I've designed the most compact yacht possible, to keep fabrication costs as low as possible.

Now I'm looking at crew costs, which are almost as high as the costs of the vessel on a yearly basis. Since offshore accounts for crew are not possible anymore these days, the cost for crew have shot up a lot, to the point that any vessel with more than one crew member quickly falls into the "luxury segment", (which my charter operation would not be aiming at.)

Aparently some flag states still allow offshore accounts for crew, such as Malta and Marshall Islands. Although in the case of Malta, the crew can't be European. Since I'm planning to hire locally and people with some language skillsets / degrees that might be mainly European, Malta is not an option.

So, this brings me to Marshall Islands. It seems that a commercially operated yacht under Marshall Island's flag is required to be of minimum 24m., however exception can be made if justified.

Commercial Yacht Registration

To the Maritime Administration, any pleasure yacht engaged in trade, commerce, on charter or carrying passengers for hire is a commercial yacht. The registration of commercial yachts is limited to those of 24 meters or more in length. The Maritime Administrator may, however, consider waiving the minimum size limitation and other requirements for commercial yachts less than 24 meters in length given the necessary justification.

Does anyone know, or have had experience with getting a commercial vessel smaller than 24m registered in the Marschall Islands and what are justified reasons for them to waive the minimum size limitation?

 

Then you should talk to the Marshall Islands Maritime administrator.... If you were employing Marshall Islands citizens that may be a reasonable expectation... but you state otherwise.
The Marshall Islands needs boats... they seem very accommadating..
https://www.register-iri.com/index.cfm?action=page&page=119&fromPage=6
J.

 

thanks, Waikikin.

I've shot them a mail, but from my own experience, you usually get the answer that "it depends" and that you'll need to send drawings for them to look at (which you'll pay a nice sum for) without any guarantee that the outcome is helping you any further. Hence my request on this forum. Once I have a good feeling that I could fit the bill for them, I'd definitely go the official route.

If I get any good answers back from them, I'll post it here.

Meanwhile, anyone??

 

I've received an answer from Marshall islands Registry,:

In light of your enquiry I regret to inform you that the Administrator does not waive the requirement of a commercial yacht having a minimum length of 24m nor are there any plans for the adjustment of this requirement.

In the very rare occasions that a yacht wishing to register as a commercial yacht and is 23,95m LOA, the Administrator could consider a waiver on the length requirement. But 19m LOA cannot be registered as a commercial yacht.