ASEAN’s goal of establishing a single shipping market is consistent with its desire to create a highly integrated, connected and competitive region in which cross-border, intra-ASEAN establishment and provision of shipping services is permitted. However, the measures currently being mapped out for achieving the single shipping market have not included liberalizing cabotage. This article argues that abolishing cabotage by removing the prohibition on the ASEAN ship-owners to engage in each other’s domestic shipping is a necessary requirement to fully achieve a single shipping market. It discusses the cabotage regimes in the four ASEAN States, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. It highlights the vessel registration, licensing and manning requirements of each State. Further, the article discusses the regulatory provisions that exclude foreign ship-owners from domestic shipping and the scope of the exemptions from cabotage. Finally, it makes recommendations on how the disparate regulatory provisions can be harmonized through the adoption of an ASEAN agreement on cabotage.

I. Introduction
 II. The ASEAN Single Shipping Market
 III. Abolishing Cabotage Restrictions in the ASEAN
 IV. Cabotage Regulations in the ASEAN Countries
  A. Vessel Registration
  B. Vessel Operation License
  C. Manning
  D. Prohibition of Foreigners from Domestic Shipping
  E. Exemptions from Restrictions
  F. Geographical Limit of Cabotage
  G. Penalties
  H. Analysis of the Cabotage Regulations
 V. Towards an ASEAN Cabotage Region:Challenges and Prospects
  A. A Flexible and Tailored Approach to Liberalization
  B. The ‘Golden Rule’161 Model of Liberalization
  C. Delineate the Geographical Reach
  D. Defining an ASEAN Regional Ship owner
  E. Public Service Contracts and Obligations
  F. Safeguard Measures
  G. The ASEAN Cabotage Commission
 VI. Conclusion

• Chinyere Ezeoke(Senior Lecturer at Faculty of Law of the University of Malaya)