Shipping Registry
The BVI Shipping Registry registered 287 new vessels in the Virgin Islands in 2013 — three more than in 2012 — resulting in $610,000 in revenue for the territory, officials said. According to the 2014 report of the Standing Finance Committee, there were 3,680 vessels registered here as of the end of 2012. More recent statistics are not yet available, BVISR Director John Samuel told the SFC. Government officials have long seen registration of foreign vessels as a way to diversify the territory’s financial services sector away from its dependence on company incorporations. However, registration has not grown as fast as hoped since the BVISR’s founding in 2006. The department spent about $1.5 million last year. Mr. Samuel told legislators that the registry would like an increase in its marketing budget to obtain an advantage over established competitors. He added that he would like to permanently station a marine surveyor in London in order to grow the registration business in the European market — particularly because VI-registered vessels anywhere have to undergo regular physical inspections for seaworthiness. However, he said the BVISR has not undertaken a cost-benefit study to determine whether or not this action would justify the anticipated revenues, according to the report.
Land Registry
Computerisation of the paper-and-registry-book system at government’s Land Registry is ongoing, officials told the SFC, but they did not give a date for the project’s estimated completion. Erica Smith-Penn, the chief registrar of lands, told the committee that all of the registry books have been scanned in and the process of scanning in individual parcel files continues.