The port of departure is where a vessel is registered or stationed, and has legal significance for tax and maritime law. Ships under a flag of convenience can avoid higher costs, but are monitored for criminal activity. The laws of a home port also apply to ships in distress or needing assistance, and environmental dangers must be weighed against crew safety. Refusal of entry to port is still debated among maritime lawyers.
Port of departure, also ‘port of departure’, is the port where a vessel is registered or permanently stationed. For merchant ships it is the port from which it operates. The home port of a ship and the flag under which it sails have legal significance for tax purposes and for the application of international maritime law.
A long-standing rule of international maritime law is that a ship engaged in foreign trade or foreign trade is subject to property taxes only in its home port. This doctrine was incorporated into the Foreign Trade Clause of the United States Constitution. It applies to both foreign trade and interstate trade from ports within the United States.
Some commercial vessels sail under a “flag of convenience”. Under maritime law, the country of legal jurisdiction for a sea-going vessel is the one under whose flag it sails. Some countries have an “open registry” policy whereby a foreign vessel can register under the country’s flag for an annual fee.
The open register has economic and legal advantages. Allows shipowners to select employees from an international pool. It usually avoids the higher labor costs and taxes that come with sailing under the flag of the vessel’s home country, where labor laws may be more strictly enforced or taxes higher. US merchants report a large number of their vessels through registry in Panama. It is estimated that around half of the world’s commercial vessels sail under flags of convenience.
Vessels traveling under a flag of convenience are monitored by maritime law enforcement agencies. The open registry allows for anonymity of the actual port of origin which makes it attractive for criminal enterprises. These include drug smuggling, human trafficking and illegal fishing practices.
The laws of a country’s home port also have relevance to ships in distress or in need of assistance. A ship in distress is at risk of sinking or damage to crew members. A ship in need of assistance is a ship that is damaged or otherwise in need of safe port.
Modern ships pose greater environmental dangers to ports than ships of the past, particularly in the event of a potentially massive oil spill from a damaged or stranded ship. The dangers of damage to the port and surrounding environment must be weighed against the loss of property and the safety of the ship’s crew. There have been reports of ships sinking after being refused entry to port. International maritime lawyers are still debating what rules should apply in deciding when to refuse a ship entry into a port.
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