New maritime fees ordinance

As of 1st October, the fees of the German flag are based on a new legal instrument. A joint fees ordinance for all areas of shipping and waterways replaces the individual ordinances from before. The fees of the German Flag remain low.

PSCOs auf Gangway

The new "BMVI-Wasserstraßen und Schifffahrt Besondere Gebührenordnung" comprises most shipping and waterway fees of the Federal Ministry for Transport and digital Infrastructure (BMVI). This means it replaces the former fees ordinance of the BG Verkehr as well. The BSH fees ordinance, however, remains valid as an individual fees ordinance, but only for now, because its revision in conjunction with the act on wind energy at sea will take some more time.

The fees for the German Flag were raised moderately in this new fees ordinance, yet, they remain low. The hourly rate of the BG Verkehr was raised slightly by 5 percent from previously 114 Euros to 119.70 Euros in future. On average, the fee rates for the individual certificates and documents increase between 5 and 15 %.

The fees for the Minimum Safe Manning Certificates and the Medical Fitness Certificates as well as for travel times of the surveyors of BG Verkehr do not change. The travel times are calculated fictitiously from the place of the closest branch office of the Ship Safety Division. This had already been a lived practice but is now clearly defined in the new fees ordinance.

In the course of this new regulation, the BMVI has adjusted the fees of the Ship Safety Division for the first time in eight years. This increase is within the inflation rate of this period of time in Germany (since 2013 up to now 12 % increase).

In comparison to the prices of ship certificates and other documents of other flags, the German flag is still inexpensive. While most other flag states charge an annual registration fee, the German Flag does not.

You can check the low-priced fees of the German Flag yourself in our up-to-date Fees Calculator. We summarized the changes of the relevant fees due to the new fees ordinance in a Comparison. All current fee rates of the BG Verkehr/Ship Safety Division are listed in section 4 of the annex to the fees ordinance. The fees of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), which have not changed, are still defined in the BSH fees ordinance.