SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Mathiew Christophe Rajoo, Probin Dass and Tan Hui Tsing, DennisMathiew
1.6 Registration of Mortgages A first priority statutory mortgage (in the form pre - scribed in the Merchant Shipping Act 1995) must be registered with the Singapore Registry of Ships. A charge under Section 131 of the Companies Act 1967 must also be registered with the Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority within 30 days of the creation of the first priority statutory mortgage. Documents required for the registration of a mortgage include an instrument of mortgage. If the vessel has a provisional registration where the original document of title to ownership has not been submitted, the mort - gage will only be recorded upon confirmation by the mortgagee that they have signed the original docu - ments. 1.7 Ship Ownership and Mortgages Registry Information regarding the ship and her mortgage sta - tus is available to the public, and this information may be obtained upon application and payment of a pre - scribed fee. The key terms are principal/loan amount, tenor/term, interest rate, repayment schedule, covenants, repre - sentations and warranties of the borrower’s condi - tion, conditions precedent that have to be satisfied by the borrower before it is entitled to draw on the loan, covenants on the borrower and events of default. The most common structure is the sale and lease - back structure. Other security packages aside from mortgages are assignment of earnings (charter hire or freight), corporate and personal guarantees, assign - ment of insurances, assignment of charters, security in the form of shares in the ship owing company. 2.2 Ship Leasing Ship leasing transactions are increasing in Singapore as the Maritime Sector Incentive – Maritime Leasing Scheme, implemented by the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore, provides tax concessions on qualifying leasing income for up to five years. Furthermore, man - agement fees of asset-owning entities are awarded 2. Ship Finance and Leasing 2.1 Ship Loan Finance
concessionary tax rates of 10% on qualifying man - agement income, encouraging companies to base ship financing operations in Singapore. Additionally, the Approved Shipping Financing Arrangement (Ship) Award (“AFSA (Ship)”), also implemented by the Mar - itime Port Authority of Singapore, provides support for ship owners, operators and lessors on interest and qualifying related payments made in respect of qualifying financing arrangements obtained to finance the purchase and construction of vessels. An ASFA (Ship) company will enjoy withholding tax exemption on qualifying financing arrangements entered into on or before 31 December 2031 to finance the purchase and construction of vessels. While traditional bank lending remains significant, alternative credit providers and private capital are increasingly used where bank risk profiles are not met. Chinese leasing houses in particular are dominating sale and leaseback deals as key players holding sub - stantial shipping assets and offering competitive lease terms. The key differences between the lessor/lessee and lender/borrower relationship is that the lessor owns the vessel and the lessee has rights of use, as com - pared to the lender/borrower relationship where the borrower owns the vessel. Therefore, the lessor enforces rights under the lease contract while the lender enforces mortgage and security rights. Both these rights give rise to in rem claims/arrests under the purview of the General Division of the High Court pursuant to provisions set out in the High Court (Admi - ralty Jurisdiction) Act 1961. The arrested vessel may serve as security for arbitration proceedings. Sale and leaseback arrangements are common in Singapore. 3. Marine Casualties and Owners’ Liability 3.1 International Conventions: Pollution and
Wreck Removal Wreck Removal
The main sources of law dealing with wreck removal in Singapore may be found under Part 9 of the Mer -
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