Government is preparing a set of incentives to entice shipping industry companies to set up a physical presence in the Cayman Islands.
“The Cayman Islands is an ideal hub for the shipping and maritime industry that we intend to build upon,” Premier Alden McLaughlin said.
Speaking at the second Cayman Islands Shipping Summit on Tuesday, Mr. McLaughlin said the development of the shipping industry would provide new opportunities for employment in human resources, transportation, logistics, communication, naval architecture, surveying and research and development.
“Our government is firmly committed to introducing a framework of incentives to attract maritime services companies more efficiently and cost-effectively to set up a substantial physical presence in the Cayman Islands,” he said.
Government is in discussions with special economic zone Cayman Enterprise City to determine how best to introduce the appropriate framework within a short period, Mr. McLaughlin said.
The incentives could be delivered to the shipping firms through a marine services park that would be part of the special economic zone.
Zone companies can take advantage of Cayman’s tax benefits in combination with reduced red tape, lower registration fees and no work permit fees.
Cayman Enterprise City CEO Charlie Kirkconnell said there is already interest from a number of companies to create a physical presence in the proposed park.
Currently, only companies from defined sectors, including IT, Internet, media, commodities, derivatives, biotechnology and education, are able to establish their business in Cayman Enterprise City.
To accommodate marine services companies in the special economic zone, government would need to pass an order in Cabinet extending the types of companies that can set up a physical presence in the zone.
Negotiations between government and Cayman Enterprise City are expected to be concluded in the coming weeks.
“This announcement is just the beginning. Our sights are firmly set on the Cayman Islands being a world-class, full-service, international maritime center,” Mr. McLaughlin added.
He noted Cayman has a competitive advantage with a respected, world-class and credible shipping registry, a large cadre of service providers, a respected financial services industry and a superior infrastructure in an ideal geographic location close to North America and South America and near the Panama Canal.
Maples and Calder lawyer Sherice Arman said the types of services that could be offered from Cayman include ship management, crew management, crew staging, provisioning and human resources, combined with high-value and knowledge-based services such as marine insurance, ship brokering and maritime offshore engineering.
“We would provide more efficiency in terms of process and procedure, a physical place where businesses can place their staff, world-class communication and IT facilities, world-class financial services and banking facilities and a safe and pleasant place for people to live,” she said.
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I can already see the complaints and protests against this, first of which will be how it will threaten all the Local Caymanian Shipping conglomerates, and there will also be the complaints about how there will be no Caymanians hired especially since there’s no work permit fees. I also find it kind of interesting the Alden is supporting extending the types of companies that can set up a physical presence in the zone when he was such a staunch oppose of it when the idea of the SEZ first came up.