Hello Keith!
Wednesday October 29 1997, Keith Jillings writes to Bill Wunsch:
 KJ>  Sunday, 26 October 1997 Bill Wunsch wrote to Keith Jillings
 KJ>>> ... and now operates happily as a US carrier under sensible rules.
 BW>> I wonder if that is like having your merchant ship registered
 BW>> in Bermuda.
 KJ>  Similar concept, for sure.   Registering shipping in Bermuda, Liberia,
 KJ>  etc is to do with taxation (I thought) rather than the rules under
 KJ>  which it operates -- but could be both.
It's both.  While there are the taxation issues on the profits the owners 
make from the vessel, there are also issues like safety standards and rates 
of pay for the crew that are all determined by the country of registry.  It 
is obviously much cheaper to maintain a ship to Liberian safety standards and 
pay Liberian wages to the crew (but usually not the officers) than those that 
would prevail in most Western countries.  Aviation regulations are different, 
and most countries, particularly western ones insist on foreign aircraft 
meeting certain standards.  Thus if you fly to or from the US only a few 
countries (notably all western ones) have reciprocal recognition of safety 
standards and are allowed to fly beyond the port of entry with a minimum of 
fuss.
Bye for now,
          Jackson
--- GoldED 3.00.Alpha4+
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