Flagging in

Bringing a seagoing ship under the Belgian flag

The Belgian Flag State is responsible for the survey, audit and certification of seagoing ships flying the Belgian flag. The Belgian fleet includes a large number of merchant ships, such as gas tankers, oil tankers, bulk carriers, container ships... as well as dredgers, tugs, offshore ships, work ships, barges and fishing vessels. An overview of the Belgian fleet can be found here.

A number of conditions must be met to bring a ship under the Belgian flag:

• The conditions for registering a ship in the Belgian Ship Registry must be met.
• The managing company must hold a Document of Compliance issued by the Belgian Flag State. 
• For ships older than 15 years (counted from the delivery date to the date of registration), a comprehensive examination of the structure is required beforehand with the ship in dry dock. Successful completion of this 'pre-registry survey' results in the issue of a certificate of conformity, which is a requirement for registration.

For newbuilds, a specific procedure is drawn up for each project. This procedure specifies the agreements between the shipowner/managing company, the recognised organisation, the shipyard and the Belgian Flag State. 

Flagging in existing ships starts with a documentary check. For this, documents must be submitted, including: 

• all valid certificates, both those issued by the Flag State and by the recognised organisation,
• all Port State Control reports of the past 5 years,
• all survey and audit reports of the past 5 years,
• all plans of the ship.

When reflagging existing ships, European and Belgian requirements must also be met, including: 

• Directive 2014/90/EU on marine equipment (Marine Equipment Directive),
• Regulation 2015/757 on the monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon dioxide emissions from maritime transport (MRV Regulation),
• Regulation 1257/2013 on ship recycling (Ship Recycling Regulation).

The survey for reflagging is conducted in accordance with the requirements of IACS procedure 28. This survey is conducted partly by the recognised organisation, and partly by an inspector of the Flag State department.

If you plan to register a newbuild project or to flag in an existing ship, please contact the Flag State department in good time. Based on the information available, a specific and more comprehensive procedure will be provided. 

Once a ship flies the Belgian flag, the survey and audit policy applies. 

Navicert

Certificates for convention ships are made available through Navicert. Navicert is an application that makes ship certificates available digitally. That way, you have your certificates at hand anywhere and anytime, even on the other side of the world. This is of great importance when there is a need for assistance in case of problems.

Administration is also more efficient as less paper is needed. Thus, Navicert is an environmentally friendly alternative. The application can be found at htps://navicert.mobilit.fgov.be and more information is available in BMI circular 2021/002 'Electronic ship certificates by BMI - Navicert'.

Who can use Navicert?

• Registered users:
  • seafarers on ships flying the Belgian flag
  • staff of shipping companies managing ships flying the Belgian flag
  • staff and inspectors of recognised organisations or classification societies
  • departments of DG Shipping
• Non-registered users:
  • foreign PSC (Port State Control) inspectors
  • inspectors of private companies on behalf of a shipping company

Dashboard

Navicert offers several interesting features through a dashboard:

• a handy overview of all your certificates
• the status and expiry date of your certificates
• a notification when a certificate is about to expire

Easily share a certificate

Certificates can easily be shared with external stakeholders such as port authorities. Furthermore, recognised organisations can add endorsements and make comments on certificates issued by DG Shipping.

QR code for inspection

A QR code allows inspectors to quickly check certificates during inspections. In case of incidents where the seaworthiness of the ship is no longer guaranteed, certificates can be withdrawn immediately.

User manuals

For smooth working with Navicert, separate user manuals have been drawn up for shipping companies and recognised organisations, and for endorsing certificates. If you still have a question regarding Navicert, please contact us at navicert@mobilit.fgov.be.

CONTACT

Preferably by email: Ship.Belflag@mobilit.fgov.be
By phone: + 32 (0)2 277 42 50 (secretarial office Flag State)