An array of ports of registry bring the world to Montrose

The location of faraway places, many with strange-sounding names, could be seen in increasing numbers in Scottish harbours in among coasters mainly from Dundee, Aberdeen, the Forth ports etc. Larger deep sea vessels showed Glasgow with a smaller number from Leith.

Nowadays it is a different story with UK ports of registry something of a rarity. Since those early days of my interest in ships and shipping which later extended to economic geography, together were of great assistance when I joined Dundee Chamber of Commerce and became involved in export trade missions to be followed and integrated with the offshore oil and gas industry then growing rapidly off the east coast.

International law requires that every ship be registered in a country which is called its flag state with the ship subject to the laws of that country. Ship registries may be governmental or private agencies.

I remember a number of years ago seeing a ship at Montrose flying a state flag I hadn’t seen before in the port. Enquiring of the relevant naval authorities it turned out be that of Georgia, now currently in the news. Her port of registry was that of Batumi, members of the crew informed me, and it was one of the first occasions their new flag was flown in a UK port.

Historically ship registration started taking control over ships carrying cargoes between European seafaring countries. Since then it has been used to document ships with regard to ownership etc. Vessels that trade internationally require to be registered which can lead into the subject of cabotage where some ships are prohibited from trading with certain countries. Each register has its own rules on the type of ships it will accept. In recent years the proliferation of flags of convenience has led to seemingly endless discussion and debate, with the number of such flags now totalling over 40.

Over the course of a year there are many ports of registry seen in Montrose. Following a relatively quiet spell of cargo handling activity a modest flotilla of cargo vessels made their appearance, one of the first being the Sagasbank, a typical Dutch-owned short sea trader built in 2010 at the well-known Bijlsma shipyard and homeported at Delfzijl. She was followed at the North Quay by the Swedish-owned and managed Ahlmark Line trader Aspen now registered at Limassol, Cyprus on the liner service from the Swedish Lakes to east coast UK ports which started in the 1960s.

An unusual caller then was the Prima Queen registered at Borga, sometimes translated as Porvoo, a port named both in Swedish and Finnish. Coincidentally another of the same fleet arrived in her wake almost, namely Prima Lady registered at the same upper Baltic port. Over the years there have been ‘fleet mates’ seen such as Prima Donna and Prima Ballerina in the Angus seaport. Well maintained to a high standard their light blue hulls stand out on the local waterfront. The Prima Queen, like a number of Montrose callers, was built by the Daewoo Mangalia shipyard at Mangalia in Romania.