Casual Navigation talks a bit about this: What Law Applies In International Waters? Essentially, the ship needs to be registered to a country and the laws of that country apply while on the ship. Most ships register themselves in a country with very lax laws, known as a “flag of convenience”. The laws of Libera, Panama, and Marshall Islands must be pretty convenient since those are countries most ships get registered.
What happens if you don’t register your ship? It’s the same as not having a passport. You’re going to have a hard time when you want to dock at a port.
Casual Navigation talks a bit about this: What Law Applies In International Waters? Essentially, the ship needs to be registered to a country and the laws of that country apply while on the ship. Most ships register themselves in a country with very lax laws, known as a “flag of convenience”. The laws of Libera, Panama, and Marshall Islands must be pretty convenient since those are countries most ships get registered.
What happens if you don’t register your ship? It’s the same as not having a passport. You’re going to have a hard time when you want to dock at a port.
Panama is mostly because of cheaper rates to go through the canal, if I’m not mistaken.