The ADOMS Busan Office
The ADOMS Busan Office is the regional office of the Antigua & Barbuda Department of Marine Services and Merchant Shipping (ADOMS) for the Republic of Korea and Japan. Thomas Blenk is Deputy Registrar for the Republic of Korea and Japan.
The office is operated by SolarisTech Inc. ADOMS maintains regulatory oversight and flag State responsibility from its headquarters in Antigua & Barbuda. Registrations, certificates, inspections, audits and approvals are acts of the Administration, or of an organization acting on its behalf, and registration of each vessel is subject to acceptance by the Administration.
The flag's services, in the region
A full service office for the Administration. Owners and managers in Korea and Japan can bring the whole file here: registration and change of flag, mortgages, certificates, seafarer documents, flag State inspections, ISM, ISPS and MLC audits, newbuilding work and technical support are all handled through the ADOMS Busan Office, for the Administration.
Registration and change of flag
Registration and transfer onto the Antigua & Barbuda register, handled in Busan. Registration is subject to acceptance by the Administration.
Provisional registration
Provisional registration can be issued, once the Administration accepts the application, so the vessel can trade while permanent registration completes.
Certificates
Certificates and documents of the Administration, handled in Busan.
Mortgage registration
Mortgages recorded in the Antigua & Barbuda register for permanently registered vessels, with the filing coordinated in Busan with the lender and its counsel. Priority runs strictly by the time and date of recording.
Seafarer documentation
Endorsements, Seafarer's Books and other seafarer documents, handled in Busan for owners, managers and manning agents.
Flag State inspections
Flag State inspections, arranged through the office around the vessel's trading pattern.
ISM, ISPS and MLC audits
ISM, ISPS and MLC audits, arranged through the office.
Newbuildings
Support through the build cycle for vessels building in Korea and Japan for the Antigua & Barbuda flag, including gas carriers and gas-fuelled tonnage, working with the owner, the yard and the vessel's Recognized Organization.
Technical support
Technical support for owners and yards. Technical policy decisions, including questions of convention interpretation, are made by ADOMS.
Change of flag to Antigua & Barbuda
In a change of flag, the new register has to open, the old one has to close, the mortgage has to follow, the crew's documents have to be in place and the certificates have to be aboard before she sails. The office handles the Antigua & Barbuda side of each step for the Administration and works with the owner and the previous registry on the rest.
- 1
Tell us the vessel, her current flag and the date you need her on the new register. The office comes back with the document list and an indicative timetable.
- 2
Once the Administration accepts the application, provisional registration can be issued so the vessel can trade while permanent registration completes.
- 3
The crew's documents are put in place and, where the vessel is financed and permanently registered, the mortgage is recorded.
- 4
The certificates are issued under the authority of the Administration, and the office tracks them against the sailing date.
WHY OWNERS CHOOSE THIS FLAG
- Preferential rate for ship tonnage dues in Chinese ports, approximately 28 percent below the general rate, applying from 8 June 2024 to 7 June 2029.
- Paris MoU White List and Tokyo MoU High Performance List, the top tier of both regimes.
- All six MARPOL Annexes, the Ballast Water Management Convention and MLC 2006 in force.
- A published sanctions regime with deregistration powers.
- A register that has grown in gross tonnage and in number of ships in each of the last three years.
Paris MoU performance list valid to 6 July 2027. Tokyo MoU performance list valid to 30 June 2027. Tonnage dues: PRC Ministry of Finance Notice Cai Guan Shui [2024] No. 24. Register growth: UNCTADstat, merchant fleet by flag of registration, 1 January 2023 to 1 January 2026.
PREFERENTIAL TONNAGE DUES IN CHINA
Antigua & Barbuda flagged vessels are entitled to the preferential rate of PRC vessel tonnage dues, approximately 28 percent below the general rate, from 8 June 2024 to 7 June 2029, under PRC Ministry of Finance Notice Cai Guan Shui [2024] No. 24 and the Agreement on Maritime Transport between Antigua & Barbuda and the People's Republic of China signed on 24 January 2024.
DEPUTY REGISTRAR FOR THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA AND JAPAN
Thomas Blenk
- Deputy Registrar for the Republic of Korea and Japan, Antigua & Barbuda Department of Marine Services and Merchant Shipping (ADOMS)
- Founder, President & CEO, SolarisTech Inc.
Contact
- ADOMS Busan Office
- Busan, Republic of Korea
- E Adoms.Busan@abregistry.ag
- E ab@solaristechinc.com
- W www.abregistry.ag
- Deputy Registrar for the Republic of Korea and Japan: Thomas Blenk
Bring us the vessel.
Tell us the vessel, her current flag and the date you need her on the new register, and the office will come back with the document list and an indicative timetable, which depends on the documents and on the Administration's acceptance.