Register your yacht in Langkawi

Register your boat in Langkawi

The Langkawi Registry offers one of the easiest and most convenient boat registrations in the world. It was setup in 2003 and is based in Telaga Harbour Park, Langkawi and is operated by the Director General of the Marine Department of Malaysia.

The major advantage of registering a yacht in Langkawi is, that it is the only registry in South East Asia to have adopted a real commercial yacht registry. As an open registry there are no nationality restrictions or limits affecting the ownership of a yacht and it is open to individuals, joint owners, corporations, and yachting entities from any country.

You can therefor register your boat in Langkawi as a private owner or an entity (company) and use it for private, commercial or bareboat activities. The setup process is fast and the paperwork needed from you is very straight forward and most important; in most cases, we do not need a survey report from you which will save you a lot of time and expenses.

Registration of a vessel in Langkawi, Malaysia is almost identical to registering in the United Kingdom from which most of the existing Malaysian maritime laws and administrative practices are derived except you will usually not need the survey. The Directorate General of the Marine Department oversees the Langkawi International Yacht Registry.

Who can register a vessel in Langkawi?

The Langkawi registry is an open registry. This means that private owners from any nationality can register their vessel as well as companies from around the world. So, if your vessel is currently owned by a UK LTD or Delaware LLC for example, you can continue to use these ownership companies and register your boat in Langkawi, Malaysia. The registration is therefor possible for private and company owned vessels and for all nationalities!

Can I register as Commercial or Bareboat charter in Langkawi?

Yes, you can register for private, commercial or bareboat vessel use. The cost to register your boat are the same for all three uses.

How long does it take to register my yacht in Langkawi?

The Langkawi registration will take about one week from the time we receive all documents from you.

How long is the Langkawi registration valid for?

Your registration in Langkawi will be valid for the life of the vessel unless there are changes in ownership or with the boat.

You will need to pay only the annual tonnage fees which are based on the weight of the vessel. We will send you a reminder every year with the exact tonnage fees to pay and will add our service fee of $195,- for boats up to 150 ton.

I want to register my boat as company owned but don’t have a company yet?

Let us setup a UK LTD. or Delaware LLC for the ownership of your vessel. We can setup either of these entities for you for a fee of $300,- and this entity will then become the owner of your vessel. We will make a bill of sale were you as a private person sell your boat to your new company (of which you are the owner).

Since the new company is only used for owning a boat, you will not need to pay any taxes or do any government filings.

What are the cost to register my vessel in Langkawi?

The cost of registration consist of 3 items: government registration fee, government tonnage fee and our service fee.

Government fees for boats up to 150 ton
1/ RM 1,140.00 (=USD $280) Government Registration fee
2/ RM 380.00 (=USD $95) Government Tonnage fee (up to 150 ton)

Our Service fee
We charge a service fee of $575,- USD for handling your privately owned vessel or $950,- USD if we need to register a corporate owned vessel.

The reason for the difference in service fee is due to the fact that a corporate registration requires a lot of KYC documents (know your client) that we have to prepare for you in addition to the normal documents.

In short the main reason why Langkawi is a popular jurisdiction to register a boat:

The registration can be done fast (1 week), usually no inspection is needed, it is valid for life, it is valid all over the world, low setup fees, your boat never has to be in Malaysian waters, can be used for private, commercial or bareboat charters, and you can register as private or corporate owner.

What is required in order to register the boat?

1. Copy of passport
2. Name and address
3. Bill of Sale (notarized)
4. Copy of Certificate of Previous Registration (whether current or expired)
5. Certificate of deletion from previous registry (if applicable)
6. Copy of insurance policy
7. Colour photo of vessel (bow, stern and starboard side)
8. 3 options of a name for the vessel