Cypriot and European citizens may proceed with the necessary procedures and register their vessel on the Registrar of Ships. However, non-European citizens who wish to register a ship under the Cyprus flag they are obliged to incorporate a Cyprus Shipping Company. The incorporated Cyprus shipping اقامة مستثمر في دبي will acquire the ship in its name. In this article, I will provide some basic information concerning the formation and maintenance of a Cyprus shipping company.
The shipping company is registered as a private company with limited liability following the provisions of the Cyprus Companies Law. For the company formation, the filing of the memorandum and articles of association in Greek with the Registrar of Companies is obligatory. The bureaucratic procedure required for company formation is approximately 3-5 days since the filing of the necessary documentation. Note that the process might be accelerated for urgent cases. It could be deduced that the incorporation of a shipping company requires an adequate legal and administrative support.
The memorandum should contain company’s objects. In the case of shipping companies, the ordinary objects are ship ownership and operation, money borrowing, mortgages, etc. On the other hand, the articles tend to adopt Table A of the Companies Law with some changes or addition whether it is required.
A primary requirement is that the name of the company should end with the word “Limited” or “Ltd”. The Registrar of Companies should approve the name. The approval usually takes two days but in urgent cases the procedure may be accelerated. The registered address has to be in Cyprus. In many cases it is situated at the offices of the lawyers who have incorporated the company in Cyprus. Note that the secretary keeps the registers and minute-books.
The share capital of the shipping company can be nominal or the actual amount to be deposited by the promoters for the implementation of the venture. It can be submitted in full or by calls, in cash or the shares can be allocated per value. All classes of shares and with different voting and dividend rights are acceptable. Note that all shares should be nominative and bearer shares are not acceptable.
The incorporation and maintenance of a Cyprus private company require one shareholder, regardless of nationality. Based on the provisions of the Cyprus law all shareholders of the shipping company can be foreigners residing abroad. The transfer of shares from one foreigner to another is permitted.
