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Offshoring to a Ship in International Waters

Posted by samzenpus on from the geek-loveboat dept.

JasdonLe writes "Sourcing Mag posted an article about Roger Green and David Cook, who hope to avoid US visa regulations that usually accompany outsourcing, with their company SeaCode, and a used cruise ship, sitting in international waters three miles off the coast of Los Angeles.""

5 of 800 comments (clear)

  1. Should we wait... by rk · · Score: 5, Informative

    until they anchor it three miles off the coast to tell them the US claims territorial waters twelve nautical miles off the coast?

    1. Re:Should we wait... by MasterB(G)ates · · Score: 5, Informative

      yep - check out this info. 3 Miles is wayyy too close http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/w1/waters-t.asp

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  2. They need to do their homework... by Bagheera · · Score: 5, Informative

    "International waters" don't start three miles off-shore. The US maritime claims are as follows:

    Maritime claims:
    territorial sea: 12 nm
    contiguous zone: 24 nm
    exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
    continental shelf: not specified

    In other words, they'd have to be at least 12 miles from shore, and possibly (depending on who's doing the interpretation) over 200.

    Also, as far as I'm aware, the ship will have to be flagged somewhere, which means that it's effectively that country's territory when in international waters.

    Someones tax man will find them.

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  3. Re:Should we wait... Gues they better tell CIA too by xski · · Score: 5, Informative


    CIA Factbook

    Maritime claims:
    territorial sea: 12 nm
    contiguous zone: 24 nm
    exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
    continental shelf: not specified

  4. Re:Is it April Fools Day? by DavidTC · · Score: 5, Informative
    Yeah, I think people are confused as to how 'international waters' works.

    Ships have to sale under the flag of a nation. If they do so, they are legally part of that nation, and have to heave to and let the coast guard and navy of that nation board. They can be punished for crimes committed.

    It's just that a lot of crimes are state or local crimes in the US, and don't exist at sea, and of course unless you're on a cruise ship, there's no one to enforce laws anyway. But try to get away with murder and claim you're in international waters...

    The other option is to sale under no flag. At which point you're a pirate vessel, you can't dock anywhere except a few quasilegal ports, and not only can any military board you, they can legally just sink you if they feel like it. (Legally according to international law, that is. Possibly not according to their own law.)

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