Maltese maritime register breaks all-time record

Malta's maritime register has hit an all-time high since it was created in 1973 and now covers 29.5 million tonnes.

Competitiveness and Communications Minister Ċensu Galea said yesterday: "This is a great result following excellent work by the Malta Maritime Authority (MMA) over the past years and, particularly, since Malta joined the EU.

"Despite a lot of scaremongering that Malta's maritime register would disappear after EU membership we have managed to show that, through perseverance and the use of EU rules to our advantage, we have not only obtained better results but also to improve by leaps and bounds the quality of the Maltese flag."

Statistics show that Malta's register did in fact suffer a plunge during the first years of EU membership. In 2004, the register dropped to 23.09 million tonnes, the lowest level since 1999. However, the register then started to pick-up again, year on year, to reach a record this month.

Another development is the opening of a new stream of registrations - cruise liners.

Following a change in the island's shipping laws last year, 16 cruise liners, totalling almost one million tonnes, were registered under the Maltese flag. These include ships from cruise liner giants Royal Caribbean. Mr Galea said another major development brought about by the MMA is the inclusion of Malta's flag in the Paris memorandum of understanding on port state control (PMOU) - considered to be the benchmark of the world's shipping industry.

Until 2005, Malta was on the black list of the PMOU and was still suffering the consequences of the Erika disaster - a Maltese-registered tanker that sank off-the coast of Brittany causing an ecological disaster. Following the enactment of new laws and the implementation of new measures to get rid of "dubious ships", Malta was accepted to be included in the white list of the PMOU and started to be recognised as a "safe flag".

Mr Galea said the future of Malta's shipping industry also looks very healthy.

"Seventy ships, which are still being built, have already taken administrative steps to register their ships in Malta. According to Fairplay Solutions, an authoritative shipping journal, another 201 ships under construction at various shipyards around the world have expressed their intention to fly the Maltese flag once they are out of the dock," Mr Galea said.

The progress in this sector has made Malta the second largest shipping register in the EU and the eighth in the world, Dr Bonello said.