Japan leads Asian nations in Marshall Islands registry

Japan leads Asian nations in Marshall Islands registry    Japanese ship owners have committed 35 vessels totaling 1.5 million gross tons to the Marshall Islands flag in 2009, leading a surge of registries from Asian maritime nations.
   In total, Asian ship owners are slated to register 2.8 million gross tons in 2009 with the Marshall Islands, with 750,000 gross tons expected from Korea and 500,000 gross tons from China.
   The Marshall Islands fleet has grown 30 percent a year, on average, for the last five years and has been the world's fourth-largest registry since 2005. As of April 30, the Marshall Islands fleet includes more than 2,000 vessels at 49.2 million gross tons and is expected to surpass the 50 million gross ton mark by year's end.
   'Japan is leading the Asian region in terms of the number of vessels registering with the Marshall Islands flag,' said Annie Ng, managing director of International Registries (Far East) Ltd.