The Marshall Islands has the world’s third largest ship registry, which is administered by the American company International Registries, Inc. (IRI). Its headquarters are in Reston, Virginia. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the total deadweight tons flagged Marshall Islands as of January 1, 2025 is 305,471,200 DWT. The larger ship registries are Liberia and Panama
Locally, IRI works through the RMI Trust Company, which is located in Ajeltake, Long Island, Majuro. According to the IRI website, as of late 2025, the IRI operates 28 offices worldwide branches around the world. Each year the RMI receives a check for a few million dollars, an amount that has steadily grown in recent years. That said, according to various websites “there is no widely published official figures detailing exactly how much IRI remits to the government from registry fees”.
Commercial vessels registered with the company use the home port of Majuro. Private yachts may choose between the home port of Bikini or Jaluit (with Bikini, for obvious reasons, being very popular).
The info site Wikipedia describes IRI ( Home – IRI | International Registries, Inc. ) thus:
International Registries, Inc. (IRI) is a company based in Reston, Virginia, United States, which operates the flag of convenience ship registry and corporate registry of the Marshall Islands on behalf of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI).
The company began as “Stettinius associates-Liberia, Inc.”, a company founded in 1948 by Edward Stettinius, Jr. to operate flag of convenience registry in Liberia. After a series of mergers, Stettinius associates became IRI. IRI then moved from Liberia to the Marshall Islands after Liberia’s president Charles Taylor demanded too much money from the company.
Follows are some shots of Majuro registered ships taken by William Van Dorp, who has a blog about ships worldwide at tugster.wordpress.com
