The Panama Ship Registry was created with the establishment of the procedures for the nationalization of ship’s tonnage. With over a century promoting seaborne trade, Panama is currently the world largest State-owned Ship Registry with more than 8,000 vessels, summing up 217 million GT, which represents 17 percent of the world fleet. This responsibility also extends to over 629,000 seafarers worldwide who hold Panama competency licenses, the largest manpower ship registry globally. Furthermore, Panama has been a leader of the ship mortgage registration. The ship mortgages under the Public Registry of Panama provide confidence to banks and to the international finance community.