What FAS is
The Faroe Islands International Ship Register (FAS) is the international register of the Faroe Islands, operating within a Scandinavian legal framework. Akkan Maritime has been its exclusive representative for Turkey and Greece since 2017.
Our role in that representation is to make the flag visible and properly understood in our region — and, in the other direction, to carry what we learn in the field back to the flag state. That second part matters more than it sounds: a register that hears quickly what owners in a given market actually need is a register that can respond.
What the flag offers
- A Scandinavian legal framework. The register sits inside Nordic maritime law rather than outside it — which is the whole point for owners who need to be credible with Northern European charterers, banks and insurers.
- Cabotage access in Scandinavia. For vessels trading in Nordic waters this is often the deciding factor on its own.
- The Türkiye double taxation treaty. Turkish owners should look at this specifically, with their own tax advisor, because the treaty position is what turns a theoretical advantage into a real one.
- Technical service that answers. FAS is a small register that runs a high-cost professional team with 24/7 technical support. In practice that means a named person who picks up when a vessel has a problem at three in the morning — which larger registers do not always manage.
- State-backed, and on the white list. The process around exemptions and special cases is handled rigorously and transparently, which is exactly what an owner wants when the case is unusual.
Where FAS is the wrong answer
An honest register recommendation has to include this part. FAS is not the cheapest flag available, and it is not built to be. Owners whose only criterion is the lowest annual cost, or who want a register that will not ask difficult questions, will be happier elsewhere — and will find the FAS process frustrating.
The flag earns its place where the owner's commercial position depends on being taken seriously in Northern Europe: Nordic trading, Scandinavian charterers, European financing, or a fleet strategy that needs a white-list flag with a real technical department behind it.
How registration runs in practice
We handle the enquiry, the documentation and the coordination with the register from our Tuzla office, in Turkish, Greek-market English, or directly with the register as the case requires. Because we sit between the owner and the flag state rather than simply forwarding forms, most of the friction in a registration — missing documents, class timing, mortgage registration sequencing — gets resolved before it becomes a delay.
Note: Akkan Maritime represents FAS for commercial vessels in Turkey and Greece. Tax outcomes depend on the owner's own structure and should be confirmed with a tax advisor.
