To register a merchant ship with a foreign owner in a Danish ship register (the Register of Shipping (DAS) or the Danish International Register of Shipping (DIS), there is a requirement of economic activity in Denmark relating to the ship. This is called the activity requirement.
Furthermore, the owner of the ship is required to appoint an entity (a Danish natural or legal person) as process agent on behalf of the foreign owner. The Danish entity must agree to such appointment.
In respect of foreign jointly owned shipping companies, the managing owner appointed must be either a citizen or a legal person from Denmark or from an EU/EEA country. Managing owners from countries outside the EU/EEA cannot be appointed.
Both requirements must be complied with for as long as the ship is registered in a Danish ship register. In the case of changes to the basis accepted at the registration, the new basis must be notified to the Register of Shipping as soon as possible and not later than 30 days after the change was made/took effect.
The Register of Shipping will then assess whether the conditions for continued registration under the Danish flag are satisfied. We conduct random checks of whether ships registered with a non-Danish owner continuously satisfy the conditions for registration.
The Register of Shipping always considers the complete situation of the specific ship. We therefore always recommend a close, broad and flexible dialogue with us before, during and after the flagging-in.