Maritime Law · 15.09.2026

Ship Registration in Vietnam: Flag, Mortgage and Priority

Ship registration in Vietnam, the mortgage that takes effect only on registration, priority by registration order, and the maritime liens that outrank every mortgage.

Lawyer UnilawReading time: 7 min

By Lawyer Nguyen Nhu Hai – UniLaw LLC

Banks financing Vietnamese tonnage ask two questions. Does my mortgage bite, and where does it sit if the money runs out? Ship registration in Vietnam answers the first, and the maritime lien regime answers the second — not always in the lender’s favour. This page follows the ship from registry entry to mortgage to the moment several claimants want the same hull.

Ship registration in Vietnam: what the register does

Registration, under Article 17 of the Maritime Code, means recording the ship in the Vietnam National Ship Register and issuing a Certificate of Vietnamese Ship Registration.

That certificate carries real legal weight. Under Article 22(4) it is evidence both that the ship flies the Vietnamese flag and of the state of ownership. So it is the document a buyer, a lender and an arresting claimant all start from.

There is also a continuing duty on the owner under Article 22. Every change affecting the registered particulars must be notified to the registry accurately, fully and promptly.

Conditions for ship registration in Vietnam

Before a ship goes on the register, Article 20 requires all of this:

lawful documents proving ownership;
a tonnage certificate and a classification certificate;
her own name;
a certificate of suspension or deletion from the previous registry, if she was registered abroad, except on provisional registration;
an owner with a head office, branch or representative office in Vietnam;
for a second-hand foreign ship registering here for the first time or re-registering, an age within the limits the Government sets; and
fees and charges paid.

Foreign owners should read the fifth condition carefully. A presence in Vietnam is not optional, and it is usually the item that takes longest to arrange.

Where a Vietnamese party takes a foreign ship on bareboat charter or hire-purchase and wants the Vietnamese flag, Article 20(2) adds the charter or hire-purchase contract to the list.

The six forms of registration

Article 17(2) offers more than one route: registration without term, registration for a term, registration of changes, provisional registration, registration of a ship under construction, and registration of a small ship.

Provisional registration matters in a sale. It is the form that does not require the deletion certificate from the old flag, which is what lets a delivery happen before the old registry has finished its paperwork.

Newbuildings get their own route. Under Article 23 the owner of a ship under construction may register her, and Article 37(4) extends the mortgage rules to that hull as well. Together they make the hull financeable before launch.

Transfer of ownership

Any transfer must be in writing under Article 36, following Vietnamese law or the law of the place where it happens. However, the transfer of a Vietnamese ship takes effect only when it is recorded in the National Ship Register.

Once the transfer completes, the buyer takes the whole ship and her appurtenances unless the parties agree otherwise. Appurtenances, in the Code, are items and equipment on board that are not constituent parts of the ship. Transferring shares in a ship follows the same rules.

The ship mortgage

What is a ship mortgage here? Article 37 calls it the owner using a ship he owns to secure a civil obligation, without handing the ship over to the mortgagee. The contract must be in writing, and Vietnamese law governs a mortgage over a Vietnamese ship.

The register entry itself is governed by Article 39. It records the names and offices of the mortgagee and the owner, the name and nationality of the ship, and the secured amount, the interest rate and the repayment term. Critically, the mortgage takes effect only once it is recorded in the National Ship Register. Registered information is then available to anyone who asks and pays the fee, which makes a search a real due-diligence step rather than a formality.

Day-to-day rules come from Article 38:

a mortgaged ship may not be transferred without the mortgagee’s consent;
the owner must insure the mortgaged ship unless the mortgage says otherwise;
assigning the secured debt carries the mortgage with it;
one ship may secure several obligations where her value exceeds their total; and
where a ship has two or more owners, all of them must consent.

Priority between mortgages

Article 38(4) settles competing mortgages simply. Priority follows the order of registration in the National Ship Register. Not the date of the contract, not the date of drawdown — the order of registration.

Therefore register first and argue later. A day’s delay in lodging can move a lender behind a competitor for the whole life of the loan.

Why a mortgage is not the top of the queue

This is the part that surprises lenders, and the Code states it twice.

Start with Article 40(2). Maritime claims giving rise to a lien under Article 41 have priority over claims secured by a ship mortgage and over other security transactions.

The gap then closes at Article 40(4). A claimant keeps the maritime lien over the ship even though the ship has already been mortgaged, or the owner has given other security for other obligations.

So look at what sits above the mortgage. The list in Article 41 starts with crew wages, repatriation and social insurance first, then death and personal injury connected with the ship’s operation, then tonnage dues, maritime safety charges and port dues, then salvage remuneration, then non-contractual loss or damage to property connected with the ship’s operation.

Two features soften it. A maritime lien lasts one year from when it arose under Article 43, so it does not haunt the hull forever. And because Article 40(3) makes the lien exercisable only through a court arrest, the lienholder has to act rather than simply wait.

Deleting a ship registration in Vietnam

Deletion is compulsory under Article 25 where the ship is destroyed, scrapped or sunk beyond salvage; where she is missing; where she no longer qualifies for the Vietnamese flag; where she no longer has the characteristics of a seagoing ship; or at the request of the owner or the registered party.

The last two grounds carry a protection a lender should know. Where the ship is mortgaged, deletion on those grounds happens only if the mortgagee agrees. In practice that is the mortgagee’s veto over a flag change or a quiet exit from the register.

On deletion the registry withdraws the registration certificate and issues a deletion certificate, which is the document the next flag will want.

What a lender should check

Search the National Ship Register for existing mortgages, and note the registration order rather than the contract dates.
Confirm the owner’s presence in Vietnam, because Article 20 requires it and a defect there unsettles the registration itself.
Take the insurance requirement in Article 38(2) as a covenant, and monitor it.
Price the lien risk above the mortgage, especially unpaid crew wages and port dues.
Build the Article 25(2) consent into the security package, so the ship cannot leave the register without you.
For a newbuilding, register the hull under construction and mortgage it under Article 37(4).

Legal basis

Maritime Code 2015 (Law No. 95/2015/QH13), consolidated as Document No. 52/VBHN-VPQH of 18 March 2026 — Article 13 (seagoing ships); Article 14 (Vietnamese ships); Article 17 (registration and its six forms); Article 18 (principles); Article 19 (ships that must be registered); Article 20 (conditions, including the Vietnamese presence and bareboat or hire-purchase contracts); Article 21 (naming); Article 22 (owner’s duties; the certificate as evidence of flag and ownership); Article 23 (ships under construction); Article 24 (contents of the National Ship Register); Article 25 (deletion, and the mortgagee’s consent); Article 28 (classification); Article 34 (ship certificates and documents); Article 36 (transfer of ownership, effective on registration); Article 37 (ship mortgage, written contract, newbuildings); Article 38 (mortgage principles, insurance, multiple obligations, priority by registration order); Article 39 (registration of the mortgage, effective on entry, public information); Article 40 (maritime lien, its priority over mortgages, and exercise through court arrest); Article 41 (claims giving rise to a lien); Article 42 (order of priority); Article 43 (one-year life of the lien).

How we act on ship registration in Vietnam

Unilaw advises owners, buyers, banks and lessors on flagging and deletion, newbuilding and bareboat registration, sale and purchase, and ship mortgages and their enforcement. Because a mortgage ranks behind the Article 41 liens, we look at the lien exposure and the insurance position alongside the security documents, not after them.

For the wider practice see our Vietnam maritime lawyer page. To enforce against the hull, read ship arrest in Vietnam. The wage claims that outrank a mortgage sit in seafarer wages in Vietnam. For the insurance Article 38 requires, see marine insurance in Vietnam. Further judgments sit in our maritime law library.