What is the Small Ships Register or SSR?
The SSR (officially known as Part III of the British Register of Ships) was introduced to provide a cheap and easy form of documentation for owners of smaller yachts to enable them to take their vessels abroad. Oakfield Maritime strongly counsels against registering yachts of higher value under the SSR. The SSR is not a register of title as the applicant does not actually have to prove ownership of the vessel concerned to register. Additionally there is no requirement for a tonnage survey to be performed on the vessel to prove that it actually exists. Overall there is very little to prevent the system from being abused, for example, the registration of a yacht in the name of somebody who is not the owner, the registration of a yacht that does not physically exist, the registration of the same yacht on the SSR more than once or a misrepresentation of yacht dimensions. The SSR is not available to yachts owned by companies or to yachts over 24 metres in length. Mortgages cannot be attache
