Ship Registration – a solution to revive a declining maritime industryIntroductionThe last South African cargo ship left the South African registry in 2010. Even then, the The ship did not make voyages that included calls in South Africa. This raises the question of whether efforts by the South African government (through the Department of Transport – DoT) and the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) to revive the country's maritime registry are misdirected . Most of the reasons for this initiative were to create jobs and have South African goods transported by South African ships with South African seafarers. South Africa exports and imports well over 200 million tonnes of goods per year, costing the nation well over R37 billion in 2014. shipping (Mokhele, 2012). All of these goods and the resulting revenues go to foreign shipping companies that employ foreign seafarers. Mokhele points out that less than 1% of these seafarers are South Africans. This is a missed opportunity to eat into the national unemployment rate of 24%. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development allows two trading countries to impose restrictions on the transportation of goods. The conference established what is commonly known as the 40-40-20 formula for freight transportation. This means that two countries can restrict transport between national carriers by up to 40% each and allow an additional 20% to be transported by one or more non-national carriers (United Nations Publications, 1975).Importance of ship registration for South Africa. The South African Ship Registry has not recorded any ships carrying cargo since 2010. At the time, this caused concern within the DoT and SAMSA as there was now no shipping capacity maritime for South Africa. ..... ice these ships. Employing South African seafarers will reduce unemployment and poverty. The South African export industry will now know who owns the ships carrying their cargoes and will develop relationships with them. To attract ships more quickly, the government may need to put in place incentives for South African cargoes to be imported and exported on South African ships. . Currently, most South African goods exported are on a free on board (FOB) basis. In contrast, imported goods are imported on a cost, insurance and freight (CIF) basis (Lamb, 2013). The shipping industry will have a lot of fun convincing importers and exporters to move from FOB to CIF export and CIF to FOB import. Some goods, particularly bulk goods, have been subject to long-term carriage contracts and it may be difficult to amend these contracts..