Bering Tonnage Licenses & Flags: Tiers and the 621-Mile Rule
Licenses decide where you can trade. Flags (ship registries) decide what each ship costs per day and where it is welcome. They interact: some licenses require ships under a particular flag.
Licenses
There are 162 shipping licenses. You start with 2 or 3 for the countries in your starting region (a Caribbean demo start had the Cuba Maritime Shipping License).
Buying one
- Open Licenses (bottom-left of the map). Owned licenses are listed; others appear greyed out until bought.
- Pick one, or use View license from a port’s menu.
- Check the criteria and the price, then purchase.
Ports you hold a license for are highlighted on the world map, and some ports flash need registry when a flag requirement is missing.
The rules that trip people up
- The 621-mile rule. An objective asks for “a second license at least 621 miles from any starting license port”. 621 miles is 1,000 km. A streamer bought the Bahamas, found it too close to Cuba, and had to refund it.
- Refunds. “Non-starting licenses can be refunded from the license list if no ship is docked there.” Starting licenses cannot.
- License limit. “License limit reached” means you must refund one to buy another. The company panel shows a countdown to your next company tier; whether that raises the limit is not confirmed yet.
- Criteria. Big licenses have requirements. The United States license required $4 million, at least one ship registered under the US flag, and brand reputation of at least Excellent (the streamer was at Weak).
- Suspensions. “Licence suspended” is one of the earliest Steam forum threads, which suggests a license can be suspended after you own it. Until the conditions are documented, keep ships’ flags and reputation in line with what each license asked for when you bought it.
Flags (ship registries)
Open the ship in the Fleet menu, use the three-dot menu, then Control panel to reach Change Flag of Registry. Flags are grouped into three tiers.
| Tier | Examples on screen | What it means in play |
|---|---|---|
| Low-Tier (47 flags) | Panama, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Malta, Bahamas, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Antigua and Barbuda | The real-world open registries (“flags of convenience”). Cheapest to run, but expect bans and failed criteria |
| Mid-Tier (about 130 flags, the largest group) | Kenya, China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, South Korea, South Africa, Russia | Middle cost; note that Russia sits here and is still banned from the Kiel Canal |
| High-Tier (about 30 flags) | United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Norway, France, Canada, Australia | Needed for some premium licenses, such as the US |
Selecting a flag shows its numbers before you confirm. For Kenya (Mid-Tier) on a ship called Polar Compass:
- Change fee: $206K (one-off)
- Daily cost: $520
- Meets license criteria for 14 ports, shown on a map (East Africa and the Indian Ocean islands)
- Banned Entry: a list of countries that refuse the flag
The tutorial’s flag objective (“Change the registration flag of MV Grey Current to a cheaper option”) wants you to compare daily costs. Make sure you change the right ship: a streamer reflagged the wrong one first.
Flags and canals
Flag bans reach beyond ports. The Kiel Canal tooltip lists Russia and Iran as Blocked, so a ship under either flag is routed the long way. Check the canal table before reflagging a ship that runs Baltic routes.
A sensible order
- Use the starting licenses until the objective chain asks for more.
- Reflag cheap where you can (Low or Mid tier) to cut daily costs on ships that only serve your home region.
- Buy the first new license at least 1,000 km away so it also clears the second-license objective.
- Before chasing a big license, read its criteria: the US one needs a High-Tier (US) flagged ship and Excellent reputation, so start working on reputation early.
Thanks. Logged for the next revision.