Registering a seagoing vessel in the Netherlands
You can register a merchant ship in the Netherlands as a seagoing vessel under ownership or as a seagoing vessel under bareboat charter, also known as bareboat-in. In both cases, you can apply for a zeebrief (Certificate of Registry, in Dutch). With a Certificate of Registry, the ship is permitted to fly the Dutch flag.
The Nederlandse zeescheepvaartregister (seagoing ship registry of the Netherlands) also provides the option to register a ship that goes bareboat-out. For this, you must apply for a bareboat-out-verklaring (Bareboat-out Declaration). During the bareboat-out period, the ship is permitted to fly the flag of another country.
Bekijk deze pagina in het Nederlands
Registration forms
The forms you need for registration, flagging, and certification of seagoing vessels are grouped together on one page that lists all forms for seagoing vessels.
Registration of non-commercial seagoing vessels
Implementation test for vessel registration
At the request of the minister van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat, IenW (Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management), the ILT conducted an implementation test for the regulation on the nationality of seagoing vessels (in Dutch). This regulation elaborates on the introduction of the Rijkswet nationaliteit zeeschepen, Rnz (Kingdom Act on the Nationality of Seagoing Vessels, Rnz) which modernises the legislation on vessel registration.
Visit NLflag
The NLflag website provides detailed information about registering seagoing vessels under the Dutch flag. It also explains the benefits of sailing under the Dutch flag.