An owner can renew a vessel’s registration within three months prior to the registration expiry date. An invitation to renew the vessel registration will be sent to the home address of the owner who appears first in the list of owners up to three months before the expiry date.

If the vessel is still registered and the ownership is changing, the new owners can apply to transfer the ownership of the vessel which, if eligible, will maintain the vessel's registration with the UK Ship Register

Please note that if your vessel registration has already expired and you (or a new owner) would still like to have the vessel registered with the UK Ship Register, it will need to be re-registered as the registration will have already been closed. Please see our guidance on re-registering on Part 3.

Call us on +44 (0)20 3908 5200 if you need any more information.

How to renew a vessel registration on the Small Ships Register

Renewing the registration costs £35 and can be completed using the UK Ship Register online service. By using the UK Ship Register online service there is no need to sign or return any documents, and payments can be made online.

You will need to ensure all registered owners have already created individual customer accounts with the UK Ship Register online service and that all owners have linked their account to the vessel registration record in order to manage the registration online. For further guidance, please see our Managing your Registration Online page.

For more information on renewing your vessel with the Small Ships Register, please contact us on +44 (0)20 3908 5200 or by email at uksr@mcga.gov.uk
 

Changes to your registration

If there have been any changes to your personal details or dimensions of the vessel, these can be changed through your UK Ship Register online service account.

For more information on renewing your vessel with the Small Ships Register, please contact us on +44 (0)20 3908 5200 or by email at uksr@mcga.gov.uk

If you do not want to renew your registration

You do not need to do anything; we will stop the registration automatically when it runs out.