A merchant ship may be owned by an individual or by a company of one state, managed by a ship management company of a second state and registered in a third state. The ship may then be sub-chartered, possibly under a bareboat charter agreement, to a company of yet another state and crewed by officers and ratings from a wide variety of different countries. The ship may then sail between states totally unconnected with the ship owners, the ship management company, the state where the ship is regis…
