Characteristics

An RMI Preferred Mortgage or Financing Charter may be recorded in the public register of the Administrator through any of the regional offices. (See §§ 302, 302A, and 306 of the Act.)

Mortgages or Financing Charters so recorded (see §§ 107 and 307 of the Act) are open to public inspection (see Article 1 of the International Convention on Maritime Liens and Mortgages, 1993) in accordance with the laws of maritime nations governing the recognition and enforcement of vessel mortgages or related instruments, such as Financing Charters (§§ 302 and 307 of the Act).

In accordance with the provisions of Chapter 2, § 203(h) of the Act, an RMI vessel mortgage or Financing Charter may be recorded by the Administrator, despite the parties’ inability to comply with the requirements of § 305 of the Act.

Recordation of an RMI Preferred Mortgage or Financing Charter entitles the parties, where appropriate, to receive a Certificate of Ownership and Encumbrance and a Certified Extract of the Preferred Mortgage Index as official evidence of recordation, containing the above information (§ 307 of the Act).

The provisions of an RMI Preferred Mortgage, Financing Charter, or a related instrument, may be interpreted in accordance with the decisions of the admiralty courts of the United States (§ 113 of the Act).