Mobilization of Foreign Vessels in Serbia – Cabotage

Can a foreign vessel be used in Serbia to perform activities and under what conditions?

The term cabotage[1] is most often used in the context of the right to perform cabotage, i.e. the right to perform the transport of passengers or goods in a host country/state. Generally speaking, states allow cabotage in their jurisdictions only to domestic carriers, while foreign carriers cannot transport goods and passengers between two places in the host country, or they can do that under very restrictive conditions. It is, actually, one of the forms of protectionism, and the states explain it by their own (economic) interests and the interests of public security.

For a vessel carrying a foreign flag to start operating on the territory of Republic of Serbia, it must be previously registered with one of the Serbian vessel registers.

Application should be submitted to the The Ministry of Civil Engineering Transport and Infrastructure, Sector for Water Transport and Navigation Safety (“Ministry”), and the Ministry shall than determine the type of vessel based on the submitted technical documentation of the vessel. After the Ministry determines the type of vessel, it shall specify the register in which the vessel should be registered.

In case the Ministry determines that the vessel is a vessel of inland navigation and that it is to be registered in the register of inland navigation vessels, the Law on Nationality and Registration of Vessels prescribes that an inland navigation vessel owned by a foreign legal person established outside the Republic of Serbia or outside a Member State of the European Union may be entered in the register of inland navigation vessels, if the ship agent (i.e. certified carrier) of that ship is a legal entity established in the Republic of Serbia or a citizen of Serbia residing in Serbia.

To start operating in Serbia, the vessel should enter Serbia under a foreign flag. This is a precondition to begin the procedure of reflagging and registration in the national register. The registration procedure shall be taken by the following steps:

Step 1 – Technical inspection of a barge

Technical inspection of a barge is carried out by the Navigation Seaworthiness Administration (“Administration”). After the vessel passes the technical inspection, the Administration issues a certificate confirming the technical capabilities of the vessel, which is a necessary condition for the registration of a foreign vessel at the domestic register.

Step 2 – Barge agreement

For the registration of a vessel owned by a foreign company, the vessel owner must hire a licensed carrier who will assume the responsibility for the navigation of the barge while the barge is in Serbia.

Pursuant to the Law on Merchant Shipping, a carrier may be hired as (i) a lessee; (ii) a charterer; or (iii) a manager; who is in any case the possessor of the ship and the bearer of navigation responsibility.

Therefore, the Barge agreement must be concluded with a domestic company which is licensed as a certified carrier (the list of certified carriers is kept by the Ministry). To be licensed as a certified carrier entails the obligation for the company to employ a person with a certificate of competence to perform the activity of an inland navigation carrier.

Step 3 – Request for determination of the name and/or designation of the vessel of inland navigation (ENI number)

The request form shall be submitted to the Ministry, together with the following documentation:

1. Document proving the ownership of the ship (certificate on registration act and certificate of class);
2. Certificate of the authority keeping the foreign register of ships that the ship has been removed from that register;
3. Certificate of the ship’s ability for inland navigation (technical inspection document);
4. Documents proving the right to have the ship registered in the Register of the Republic of Serbia, if the owner of the ship is a legal entity (barge charter agreement with certified signatures);
5. Document proving the fulfilment of the conditions prescribed by the regulations imposing the maximum permitted age of vessels that could be registered.

The documents drafted in a foreign language have to be accompanied with the certified translation in the Serbian language.

Also, the proof of payment of the administrative tax must be enclosed to the request.

Step 4 – Registration of the barge in the register of inland navigation vessels

Registration of the vessel into the register of ships shall be allowed by the harbor office towards the seat of the certified carrier, if the following documents are enclosed with the request form:

1. Document proving the ownership of the ship (certificate on registration act and certificate of class);
2. Document proving the owner of the ship, i.e. that the conditions are met for registration into the relevant registry of vessels (barge charter agreement with certified signatures);
3. Decision on determination of the name or the mark of the vessel and the port of entry of the vessel, as well as the ENI number for inland navigation vessels (document issued by the Ministry in Step 3 above);
4. Calibration certificate (tonnage document);
5. Certificate on ability of inland navigation (technical inspection document issued in Step 1 above);
6. Documents proving other information entered in sheet A of the main book of the registry of ships (technical specification like dimensions, etc.);
7. Certificate of the authority keeping the foreign register of ships that the vessel has been removed from that register;
8. Written statement from the shipowner that transfers responsibility for managing the vessel to the company if the shipowner is not the same company.

Upon completion of the procedure, the vessel will be registered in the national register and will fly the Serbian flag while operating in Serbia. After the completion of the project in Serbia, the vessel owner submits a request for the removal of the vessel from the Ship Register of the Republic of Serbia and re-submits the request for registration to the foreign registry.   

[1] Cabotage – the national carriage of goods for hire or reward carried out by non-resident haulers on a temporary basis in a host country/state