Liberian registry founder Yoram Cohen dies
Mr Cohen was a serial entrepreneur and risk taker but he will be remembered for pioneering a service culture within flag operations and was responsible for a remarkable period of growth in the open registers
Yoram Cohen established the blueprint for the modern open register and grew LISCR to the point that it is now poised to overtake Panama and make Liberia the world’s largest flag
YORAM Cohen, founder of the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry, which has grown the Liberian flag to the point that it is poised to overtake Panama and become the world’s largest ship registry this year, has died.
While the registry has been run by Mr Cohen’s sons, Adam and Elan, for close to a decade, he remained a guiding figure and mentor within it.
He was credited with stablising the Liberian Registry in the late 1990s and subsequently driving a remarkable period of growth as it transformed into a commercial operation focused on servicing shipowner demand.
Mr Cohen, who was a serial entrepreneur, founded LISCR in 1999 as it assumed management of the Liberian flag from International Registries, which now runs the rival Marshall Islands flag.
“Yoram was a consummate optimist and risk taker. So original in everything he did,” his sons said in a statement. “He rescued the registry during an acutely difficult time and made it flourish. His creative imagination was unmatched, and allowed him to build multiple businesses and commercial teams.
“He was a mentor to so many and is responsible for so much of Liberia’s local economic development. He was a pillar in the various industries and countries that he worked in. We are so proud of who he was and what he built.”
Liberia’s growth in tonnage terms has outstripped its nearest competitor, the Marshall Islands, for several years and it is forecast to overtake Panama as the world’s largest flag by the end of this year.