Nansha retrieves 10 FOC ships

Guangzhou’s Nansha district has recalled 10 China-funded Flag of Convenience (FOC) ships and exempted them from 220 million yuan ($31.23 million) in tariffs and import value-added tax, scaling up the district’s international shipping fleet.

The ships will have more potential for business development due to new access to international cruise lines as well as domestic trade lines.

“FOC ships” refers to merchant ships enrolled in other countries and flying the registration countries’ national flags. They operate with low tax cost and relatively loose security control.

Taxes for the newly returned China-funded ships which are registered over the duration from Sept 1 of 2016 to 2019 will be exempted to encourage more FOC ships to return to their homeland, said the document issued by the Ministry of Transport on Sept 16, 2016.

Seventy-eight FOC ships had completed registration proceedings up to Sept 1 of 2019, 12.8 percent of them registering at Nansha, according to the data from China’s maritime authority.

The district offers extra favorable measures to promote shipping import. Ships that choose “China Guangzhou” or “Guangdong Nansha” as their home port will gain subsidies of 60 yuan per ton and a mortgage allowance of two percent of their bonds.

A green passage was set up to cut the time required for high-quality ships’ vetting process. Eight weekdays are enough to complete all the procedures.

Nansha has made a breakthrough in the international maritime industry. In 2018, its local water freight transport volume was 1.81 trillion tons, ranking second in the country.