What Insurance Certificates Does a Yacht Need?

Which insurance certificates does a yacht need at its gross tonnage?

Where do you find your yacht's gross tonnage?

Your yacht's gross tonnage is printed on its tonnage certificate, and the registry certificate repeats it. Gross tonnage measures enclosed volume, not length and not weight, which is why two yachts of the same length can sit on different sides of 300 GT.

The IMO's Tonnage Convention 1969 defines gross tonnage as "a function of the moulded volume of all enclosed spaces of the ship". A yacht with a tall superstructure and a full-beam saloon measures larger than a sleeker yacht of the same length.

Under the US rule, the International Tonnage Certificate (1969) is issued on request for a vessel of 24 metres or more in registered length on a foreign voyage. Check your own flag's rule, and take the number from your own certificate rather than from a rule of thumb. We do not publish a length-to-tonnage conversion, because none is reliable enough to decide a legal obligation.

Crew qualifications, such as STCW certificates and a captain's licence, are a separate set of documents and are not covered here.

Does a certificate follow the yacht's flag or the ports it enters?

Both. Under the Nairobi Convention a yacht of 300 GT and above needs wreck-removal insurance if it flies a State Party's flag, and any State Party must also require that insurance for a ship of 300 GT and above, wherever registered, entering or leaving one of its ports.

The flag trigger is Article 12(1): "The registered owner of a ship of 300 gross tonnage and above and flying the flag of a State Party shall be required to maintain insurance or other financial security". It applies wherever the yacht is. The Cayman Islands Shipping Registry states it for one flag in plain terms: "All Cayman Islands ships and yachts of 300 GT and above require certification under the Convention regardless of their geographical location."

The port trigger is Article 12(12). Each State Party must ensure the insurance is in force "in respect of any ship of 300 gross tonnage and above, wherever registered, entering or leaving a port in its territory". That is what catches a yacht from a flag that has not joined the Convention. The trigger is a port, not simply the waters a yacht cruises through.

The Convention came into force generally on 14 April 2015, but each State joins on its own date. According to the Cayman Islands Shipping Registry, it entered into force for the Cayman Islands on 7 February 2017. The list of State Parties changes, so check the IMO's status list rather than a published count.

A yacht flagged in a non-party State can still get a certificate. The Convention lets any State Party issue it for a ship not registered in a State Party. The Netherlands issues them, and the UK may issue them, case by case.

The EU Directive 2009/20/EC uses the same two routes for maritime-claims insurance: a Member State's own flag, and foreign ships entering its ports.

This is a summary of the Convention and the Directive, not legal advice.

What insurance certificates does a yacht under 300 GT need?

Below 300 GT a yacht needs none of the tonnage-triggered convention certificates in the table above. Two kinds of proof can still apply: national third-party liability rules in some Mediterranean countries, and the proof of insurance a marina, lender or charter company asks for. A yacht its flag treats as commercial can also need the MLC death and disability certificate, which has no tonnage line.

National liability rules. Some Mediterranean States set compulsory third-party liability rules for yachts. The scope and the amounts belong to each country, so we keep them on the country pages:

Our page on liability rules across the Mediterranean puts them side by side.

Proof of insurance for a contract is a different thing. A marina, a lender or a charter company may ask for a certificate of insurance as a condition of its contract. That is a private requirement, not a law, and the insurer issues it on request. State boat-insurance rules in the US are a separate question.

Standard A4.2.1 of the Maritime Labour Convention requires the certificate on board every ship in scope and sets no tonnage line, so a small yacht that its flag treats as commercial can still need it. The MLC section below explains when that is.

Does a yacht need a US Certificate of Financial Responsibility (COFR)?

Yes, if it is over 300 gross tons and uses US navigable waters. 33 CFR 138.20 applies to "any vessel over 300 gross tons" using those waters, and its exceptions cover public vessels and certain non-self-propelled barges only. A large yacht of any flag visiting the United States is caught.

The statute behind it, 33 U.S.C. 2716, uses the same line: "any vessel over 300 gross tons (except a non-self-propelled vessel that does not carry oil as cargo or fuel)". The USCG National Pollution Funds Center administers the certificate.

There is a tonnage trap. Under 33 CFR 138.50(b), where a vessel has both a gross tonnage under the 1969 Convention and a gross register tonnage, the 300 line is tested on the gross register tonnage. The figure on an International Tonnage Certificate may not settle it on its own, so confirm with the National Pollution Funds Center before arrival.

The evidence of financial responsibility comes from an insurer, a surety or a guarantor. The COFR is a US rule, separate from the convention certificates in the table above.

This is a summary of the regulation, not legal advice.

Do MLC financial-security certificates apply to a yacht?

Only where the flag State treats the yacht as commercial. Where they apply, two certificates prove the crew are protected: one pays for repatriation, essential needs and up to four months' outstanding wages if the crew are abandoned, and one pays contractual compensation for a seafarer's death or long-term disability.

The Maritime Labour Convention 2006 applies under Article II(4) to ships "ordinarily engaged in commercial activities". The Convention never uses the word "yacht". Each flag State decides where its yachts fall, and some treat private yachts as outside it. The UK Ship Register states that the MLC does not apply to pleasure vessels, and Transport Malta's Merchant Shipping Notice 105 excludes "Yachts in non-commercial use of any size". A yacht in commercial use meets the Convention's test, and the flag State decides the rest.

Both certificates have been required since 18 January 2017, when the 2014 amendments came into force:

• Abandonment (Standard A2.5.2). It covers repatriation, essential needs and up to four months of outstanding wages and entitlements. A ship must carry the certificate on board if it is covered by Regulation 5.1.3, which means 500 GT or over on international voyages, or any ship whose owner asks to be certified.
• Death and long-term disability (Standard A4.2.1). It covers contractual compensation for a seafarer's death or long-term disability. Every ship in scope carries this certificate, and it has no tonnage line.

Tonnage alone does not bring a yacht into the MLC. The 500 GT line governs carrying the abandonment certificate, and whether the MLC applies at all is the commercial-activities test.

Both certificates are issued by the financial-security provider, not by a State, and they are not blue cards. For crew cover beyond these two certificates, see what insurance a yacht needs for its crew. Chartered yachts have their own page on charter yacht insurance.

This is a summary of the Convention, not legal advice. Check with your flag administration.

How is an insurance certificate issued?

For wreck removal and bunker oil, a certificate is issued in two steps: the insurer or P&I provider issues a blue card as evidence of cover, then the flag State issues the certificate against it. MLC and EU maritime-claims certificates skip the State step.

1. 1The policy must carry the liability. The cover has to include wreck-removal and, over 1,000 GT, bunker-pollution liability up to the convention's requirement. With no cover, no blue card can be issued. For what that liability cover pays, see what P&I insurance covers.
2. 2The insurer issues a blue card. It is addressed to the authority that will issue the certificate. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency asks for "a Blue Card addressed to the MCA", and it may delay applications backed by blue cards from insurers it does not know.
3. 3The owner applies to the State. The application goes to the flag State, or to any State Party when the flag is a non-party. The Cayman registry requires that "The details on the 'Blue Card' must match the details on the vessel's current Certificate of British Registry, especially with regard to the owner's name and address." A fee is charged: £31 per certificate at the MCA, and €270 at the Netherlands ILT under its 2016 tariff.
4. 4The certificate is carried on board. In principle it runs as long as the insurance, and the ILT puts the maximum at one year. If the insurer gives notice of cancellation, the MCA cancels the certificate too.

The MLC and Directive 2009/20/EC certificates come straight from the provider, with no State step.

The blue card names the registered owner, while some authorities let a manager or operator file the application. On a managed yacht, check that the blue card and the registry certificate name the same owner.

Turkey also runs a "Blue Card", but it is a waste-discharge system, unrelated to insurance. See yacht insurance in Turkey.

No authority we read publishes a processing time. Apply well before the policy renews.

What should you ask your insurer for at renewal?

Ask for the evidence each certificate needs before the policy renews, because every certificate ends with the cover behind it.

1. Confirm the gross tonnage from the tonnage certificate, not the length.
2. List the flag and every country the yacht plans to visit this season.
3. Confirm the policy carries wreck-removal liability and, over 1,000 GT, bunker-pollution liability.
4. Ask for a blue card for each certificate, addressed to the right authority.
5. If the yacht operates commercially, ask for the MLC death and disability certificate, and the abandonment certificate where Regulation 5.1.3 applies.
6. Check the liability rules for each Mediterranean country on the plan.
7. Note that each certificate ends when the policy ends, and diarise the renewal.
8. Make sure the owner's name and address match the registry certificate.

When you are ready, we can introduce your yacht to the firm that arranges the liability cover these certificates rely on. Start from superyacht insurance, or send the details below.