Flag cost comparator
Five-year registration cost across registers, built only from published fees.
What this does
Pick an asset class and the registers you are weighing up. Each published fee component is shown with its source, and the components are added into a five-year total: the initial fee, five annual fees, and tonnage dues where those are published as comparable figures. A component that is not published is a gap. A component published as a band or a formula is shown as published and kept out of any total. Components in different currencies are never added together.
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What does it cost to register a yacht in Malta or the Cayman Islands?Link to this section
WhichFlagToFly's calculator adds a register's published entry fee to five years of its published annual fee, and to tonnage dues where the register publishes a comparable figure. A band, a formula or an unpublished component is shown as published and kept out of totals, and two currencies are never added together. The Malta and Cayman fee rows carry each source.
| Register | Registration fee | Annual fee | Tonnage dues |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malta | Registration is €115 for commercial yachts under 24 m and pleasure yachts under 24 m and 50 GT; above that, a €187.50 minimum for pleasure and €1,562.50 for commercial.Merchant Shipping Act (Cap. 234, Laws of Malta), consolidated text at point in time 04/04/2025, legislation.mt (Office of the State Advocate)legislation.mt · First Schedule, para A.i, rows (i)b and (i)c; columns Fee on Registration, Basic Fee, Register FeeRetrieved 2026-09-12Open sourceInformational only, not legal, tax or financial advice. Contact a qualified professional for current information. | A pleasure yacht under 24 m pays €200 a year (€25 basic fee plus €175 register fee) and a commercial yacht under 24 m pays €400, under the First Schedule rates for ships not declared tonnage tax ships; paying after the anniversary adds 10 percent.Merchant Shipping Act (Cap. 234, Laws of Malta), consolidated text at point in time 04/04/2025, legislation.mt (Office of the State Advocate)legislation.mt · First Schedule, para A.i, rows (i)b and (i)c; columns Fee on Registration, Basic Fee, Register FeeRetrieved 2026-09-12Open sourceInformational only, not legal, tax or financial advice. Contact a qualified professional for current information. | Malta charges an annual tonnage tax instead of dues, and only on ships declared tonnage tax ships under S.L. 234.43, which a pleasure yacht never is: a commercial yacht under 24 m so declared pays €250 tonnage tax plus €150 basic and €100 register fees a year, and a ship of up to 6,250 net tons pays €2,500 tonnage tax.Merchant Shipping Act (Cap. 234, Laws of Malta), consolidated text at point in time 04/04/2025, legislation.mt (Office of the State Advocate)legislation.mt · First Schedule, paras A.i and GRetrieved 2026-09-02Open sourceInformational only, not legal, tax or financial advice. Contact a qualified professional for current information. |
| Cayman Islands | Registration costs US$1,750 up to 400 GT and US$2,250 above it, with tenders at US$700.Shipping Notice 04/2026 (Rev 1.1), Notice of Fees and Charges for Vessels which are Commercial and Pleasure Yachts, Tenders or Submersibles, Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islandswww.cishipping.com · Schedule, Section 1, A.1, item 1Retrieved 2026-08-29Effective 2026-04-01Open sourceInformational only, not legal, tax or financial advice. Contact a qualified professional for current information. | The annual tonnage fee is US$600 up to 400 GT and US$800 from 401 GT, plus US$0.30 for each gross tonnage unit of 400 GT, payable by 31 January each year.Shipping Notice 04/2026 (Rev 1.1), Notice of Fees and Charges for Vessels which are Commercial and Pleasure Yachts, Tenders or Submersibles, Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islandswww.cishipping.com · Schedule, Section 1, A.3, item 15Retrieved 2026-08-29Effective 2026-04-01Open sourceInformational only, not legal, tax or financial advice. Contact a qualified professional for current information. | An annual tonnage fee replaces per-voyage dues: US$600 up to 400 GT or US$800 from 401 GT, plus US$0.30 for each gross tonnage unit of 400 GT.Shipping Notice 04/2026 (Rev 1.1), Notice of Fees and Charges for Vessels which are Commercial and Pleasure Yachts, Tenders or Submersibles, Maritime Authority of the Cayman Islandswww.cishipping.com · para 2.1Retrieved 2026-08-29Effective 2026-04-01Open sourceInformational only, not legal, tax or financial advice. Contact a qualified professional for current information. |
Registers covered: the yacht register list and the aircraft register list.
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