MCA Tonnage Surveys

A Tonnage Survey is to be carried out in order to register a yacht for the British Shipping Register. The Tonnage Survey is demanded by banks or by flags, which are part of the RedEnsign Group under MCA. The entry in the register confirms the yacht owner, allows for a guaranty on the yacht and is internationally accepted as a document to facilitate entering and leaving the harbour.

We are authorized by the SCMS and MECAL to conduct MCA Tonnage Surveys and therewith for all flags belonging to the RedEnsign Group:

Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Anguilla, Falkland Islands, Guernsey, Jersey, Montserrat, St. Helena, Turks & Caicos Islands

Flag Certificate

In preparation to change the flag of your yacht (e.g. from German to Swiss flag) you can avoid financial loss and save yourself a lot of trouble if you have your yacht examined by a surveyor before. In order to have your yacht registered, different criteria must be fulfilled depending on the respective country. With our consultancy and survey you avoid your yacht to be refused admittance due to not sufficiently complying with the requirements of the flag or due to security deficiencies.

Before buying a yacht the requirements of the designated register should be checked and the yacht examined accordingly. In particular with respect to a possible commercial use of the boat you can avoid posterior inconveniences and unpleasant surprises. Nothing more annoying for an owner than to have bought a boat for commercial use on the high seas and to not having the boat licensed due to not corresponding safety standards.

MCA Coding

The commercial use of a yacht under the British flag requires the approval in accordance with MCA Yacht Code for charter. We are authorized to survey boats and yachts up to 24m and with less then 12 passengers according to MCA. The yacht will be coded following MCA Marine Guidance Note MGN280. The guidelines are for motor and sailing yachts as well as for work boats.

With respect to the coding of your yacht we can help you with a preliminary consulting in order to prove whether and how your yacht already complies with the MCA rules. A detailed preliminary inspection on board shows what alterations are required and what items or special equipment the yacht has to be refitted with. In a second inspection the actual acceptance survey is carried out.

Registration of British radios

Radios and mobile VHF radios for vessels under the British RedEnsign flag have to be registered at Ofcom. As accredited partner of Ofcom, we are allowed to register the radios on board your yacht for the RedEnsign flag. When buying/selling a yacht, for new registration or after an exchange of radios on bord, those alterations have to be reported to Offcom.