Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

US Announces New Open Registry

US Announces New Open Registry

Next Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, former US Deputy Secretary of State and the first Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte will be providing opening remarks, and Albert Bryan, Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, will announce a new US Flag open ship registry, in what some maritime experts are calling the most historic moment for US maritime interests this century.
The US national debt is in the currency that the debtor can always print as much as they owes, even if the creditor will not be able to buy with it nothing in the future.

So US can buy whatever they want, even without producing or exporting anything, and they will never default. Because they can print as much as they want…

However:
The shipping industry moves more than $4 trillion USD of imports and exports into and out of the United States every year but, for the past fifty years, the U.S. has increasingly relied on shipping lines from other countries to carry most of these goods. Currently, there is only one U.S. flag shipping company in the top 30: Matson, ranked 26th, with only 0.2% of the global market share.

Over fifty percent of the ships that traverse international waterways are registered in just three jurisdictions – Panama, Liberia, and the Marshall Islands. Each of these registries was formed with the support of the US Government and each originally promised commercial advantages along with some degree of protection from the US Navy. Panama and Liberia, however, currently have no protection agreement in place. The Marshall Islands registry is said to have a security “understanding” with the United States, but the details of which are not clear.

According to a white paper released by the Center for Ocean Policy and Economics (COPE) at the Northeast Maritime Institute, ships registered under the new Virgin Islands Flag will realize physical and cyber protection from relevant US agencies and the new flag will also provide a key competitive advantage to ship owners.

“The future is becoming increasingly complex and uncertain,” said Eric R. Dawicki President of Northeast Maritime Institute and an executive member of COPE, in an interview with gCaptain. “We believe that customers, ports, financial markets, and insurance companies are ready to reward ship owners that are more transparent and lean into environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). We believe a US open registry will protect the rights of seafarers and provide US mariners with more opportunities.”

Dawicki was quick to point out that, while this is an open registry, it will not be a flag of convenience. The US Virgin Islands is one of only five official Overseas Territories of the United States. American Virgin Islanders are American Citizens and USVI companies are subject to United States law. The new registry hopes to attract ship owners that understand this and are willing to lean into ESG initiatives.

“We are looking to help shipowners navigate an increasingly uncertain world,” said Dawicki. “We are looking to help those who want to do good by doing well.”

An increasing number of customers, financial institutions, and regulators are looking to do business with companies that hold themselves to a higher standard. Less clear is if ship owners will be willing to ditch cheap flags of convenience for better access to capital and cargo. It is also unclear how the USVI flag will navigate the Jones Act, if it will have a separate seat at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) or share one with the US delegation, and the depth of its relationship with classification societies, regulators at the US Coast Guard, the US Navy, and shipowner groups like ICS, BIMCO, INTERTANKO, and INTERCAGO… which have all been calling for higher standards within the broader industry.

While these questions remain unanswered, representatives of the new flag state promise transparency and promise to answer these difficult questions at the press event next Tuesday.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×