Madeira

About the Registry

An Autonomous Region of Portugal, Madeira is an island located off the coast of southwestern Europe, approximately 625 miles from Lisbon and 545 miles off the coast of Africa. Portugal is a member of the UN, NATO, the IMO, and the OECD, and it is expressly provided that all international conventions ratified by Portugal shall be complied with by Madeira. Portuguese is spoken, and the currency is the Euro.

The International Shipping Register of Madeira (MAR) was established by decree in 1989. Together with the Industrial Free Zone, the Financial Services, and the International Services Centre, it comprises what is known as Madeira’s International Business Centre (IBC). The IBC is not a fixed location but a concept that geographically encompasses the whole of Madeira creating a business centre. MAR has been declared as Portugal’s second register and all ships joining MAR fly the Portuguese flag.

MAR, as a Portuguese register, is among the international registers of the highest quality, having guaranteed adequate measures to ensure an efficient surveillance of all vessels registered. All international conventions ratified by Portugal are fully applicable to and respected by MAR. MAR is included in the White List of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding.

The law which governs Madeira ship registrations is Decree-Law no. 96/89 of the 28th of March, further amended by Decree-Law no. 393/93 of the 23rd of November and Decree-Law n. 31/97 the 28th of January. The latter Decree-Laws introduced some important modifications to the former including the authorization for the registration of pleasure yachts at the International Shipping Register of Madeira.

The Portugese Institute for Ports and Shipping (IPTM) serves as the maritime Administration for MAR. The IPTM also supervises a “conventional register,” yet it is much smaller than MAR, hosting only about fifteen vessels compared to the MAR's 160 vessels.