[112012123]

Depends on the jurisdiction. In many countries, yes there are insurance requirements. Even in ones where there aren't, most vessels owned by larger companies carry insurance for the same reason anyone else does.

On the other hand, since oceangoing ships are (mostly) regulated by the countries they're registered in, which is frequently a regulation-light jurisdiction like Panama, Liberia, or the Marshall Islands - there are a surprising number of situations where the owner of the ship just completely disappears and the ship is left to rot.

One of the most famous recent examples of this was the ship involved in the Beirut port explosion this year. After being impounded for being unseaworthy, it rotted at its moorings and eventually capsized in the Beirut harbor.

A quick trip through developing-country ports on Google Earth will have quite a few ships like this.

[yohannparis]

The ship in the article left Georgia to Baltimore, you cannot move goods from and to the USA with a boat that is not registered in the USA.

That's is why only few cruise ship start and end their trips in the USA.

[0xffff2]

Curiously, this vessel appears to have been registered in the Marshal Islands, which is an independent nation with a rather unusual relationship [0] to the US that I hadn't heard of before. Presumably the law that requires US registration has a special provision allowing this? I wonder if the crew requirements are more relaxed with a Marshal Islands registration?

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_of_Free_Association

[Ichthypresbyter]

The difference is that the law only applies to ships that carry goods or passengers from one US port to another. Ships are allowed to (and often do) call at multiple US ports on a voyage, they just can't unload goods in one US port that were loaded in another.

For instance, the ship could have carried cars made at the Kia and Hyundai plants in Mexico to the US, and also loaded cars made at the plants in Georgia and Alabama for delivery to the Middle East.

[112012123]

Correct - vessels on US cabotage-restricted routes will always be registered (and crewed etc) in the US.

[njarboe]

The law keeps a fleet of US shipping vessels and seamen around, but makes some things in Hawaii quite a bit more expensive.