MaritimeCookIslands.com
Title
Maritime Cook Islands Ltd - Corporate Administrators of the Cook Islands Ships Registry
Description
In 1999 the Government of the Cook Islands took the decision to privatise the operation of a number of Government-operated services. The operation of the Ship's Registry was included in this privatisation. A tender process was conducted and in May 2000 an agreement for the privatization of the Registry was signed between Government and Maritime Cook Islands Limited. The founding shareholders, Messrs Anthony Manarangi and Michael Mitchell, have both acted as Solicitor General for the Cook Islands Government and as such were heavily involved in the development of various pieces of Maritime Legislation and were therefore cognisant of the requirements and responsibilities of running a Ship's Registry. They further recognized that they had the additional advantage of the Cook Islands' established offshore financial industry, which was already well placed to meet the needs of owners.
The first task was to legally enable the contracting out of the administration of the Registry and modify the environment for registration. This was affected with the adoption of the Shipping Amendment Act 2000, which was written with the assistance of Mr. Joe Hurley of Norton White, a large firm of Trade & Transport lawyers based in Sydney. The Act came into force in December 2000 and the effective operation of the Registry by Maritime Cook Islands Limited began in November 2001.
Subsequent to this the development of the Registry has continued steadily. The development of the Registry's prescriptive and regulatory environment has continued with the assistance of Messrs Peter Dawson and Michael Sullivan, of Oceanlaw New Zealand, a firm in Nelson specializing in Maritime & Fisheries law. Peter Dawson has had considerable experience in developing legislation and regulation for Ships Registries and as such his expertise has proved invaluable.
Languages
English
