Maltese flag off black list

The Maltese flag has been taken off the black list of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on port state control, the result of Malta's entry into the EU and years of hard work by the Maltese maritime authorities.

The decision was taken last week at a meeting of the Paris MOU committee in Helsinki, after considering last year's inspection results. The new list was published yesterday and for the first time Malta was included in the grey list.

The Paris MOU classifies maritime flags in three categories, the black being the worst. It features the worst performing flags in terms of failing port state inspections and is considered to be one of the main considerations for ship-owners before choosing where to register their vessels.

Grey is intermediate and white signifies the flag state is among the best shipping registers.

Malta has one of the largest shipping registers in the world and the second largest in the EU. Malta Maritime officials have long cited blacklisting as an obstacle to further growth of the fleet. Yesterday's news is being considered an important turning point for the Maltese flag.

Contacted by The Times, Competitiveness Minister Censu Galea, who is responsible for the maritime sector, confirmed the news and said he was delighted by the decision.

Mr Galea said the decision demonstrated the hard work put in by the Maritime Authority to clear Malta's name. The development, he added, would now help the Maltese register to attract more ship-owners to the flag and would certainly project Malta's maritime sector in a more positive light.

The Paris MOU consists of 20 participating maritime administrations and covers the waters of the European coastal states and the North Atlantic basin from North America to Europe. It aims to eliminate the operation of sub-standard ships through a harmonised system of port state controls.

Annually, over 18,000 inspections take place on board foreign ships in the Paris MOU ports, ensuring that the ships meet international safety, security and environmental standards and that crew members have adequate living and working conditions.

According to the Paris MOU secretariat in The Hague, a detention ratio of 7.1 per cent for Malta last year was sufficient to end the Maltese flag's lengthy "incarceration" on the list.

The average detention ratio within the memorandum last year was 5.8 per cent, although a country's placing depends on the last three years of detention results.

A spokesman for the Paris MOU said Malta had been working very hard to improve and underlined the fact that escaping the black list was a condition for Malta's full membership of the memorandum. Malta can now become a full member.