In recent years, the traditional maritime countries have fought back in an endeavour
to repatriate tonnage lost to the open registries. The response of a number of the
traditional maritime nations has been, often in addition to tax and other financial
incentives made available to the shipping sector, to permit the temporary registration
of their vessels under the flags of foreign registries through bareboat charter
arrangements or to establish offshore or international registries, offering many of
the advantages to operators of the open registries, but nonetheless retaining a link
between beneficial ownership or management and the national flag.