As Malta has one of the world’s largest registries of heavy polluting ships, a veteran scientist is urging the Maltese government to lobby for stricter air-quality controls.

Research conducted by University of Malta professor Raymond Ellul has found that nearly 1,300 transhipment vessels fly the Maltese flag – making up 10 per cent of the global total.

In fact, there are double the number of these massive ships flying the Maltese flag than are on the UK registry and five times the number registered in nearby Greece. 

Read: Malta's air pollution among the worst in Europe

Malta-registered ships, Prof. Ellul found, produced nearly 200 kilotons of emissions annually, around a tenth of the global total.

According to the European Environment Agency, 60,000 people die every year as a result of shipping emissions.

Double the massive ships fly the Maltese flag than are on the UK registry and five times Greek number

Earlier this month, The Sunday Times of Malta reported that huge ships sailing or bunkering just off Malta generated more toxic emissions than the equivalent of 30 Marsa power stations, and lax rules in the Mediterranean meant they were using some of the most polluting fuel available.

Prof. Ellul said, however, there was still hope. Malta, he said, had a veto on the International Maritime Organisation – the UN agency that regulates international shipping. The IMO sets limitations on emissions from ships in different shipping zones and could make the Mediterranean a cleaner area by imposing stricter ones.

Prof. Ellul and his team of postgraduate students have been studying ship emissions in the central Mediterranean from an isolated lighthouse-turned-laboratory on the coast of Gozo coast since the mid-1990s, and the situation appears to be getting worse. He said he had discussed his findings with Cabinet ministers in recent weeks but had not seen any change in the official direction.

Read: Cruise liner fumes reach 'unbelievably high' levels

The possibility of Malta lobbying for stricter air-pollution controls in international shipping fora has been flagged before. Back in March this newspaper reported that the island had been criticised for showing low levels of climate change ambition in the shipping sector despite its considerable ship registry.

Malta was ranked 14 of 23 EU maritime nations in a new report by the campaign group Transport and Environment assessing national ambition for climate action in negotiations at the IMO.

The report found that countries with the largest shipping registers generally showed the least ambition in negotiations. “This suggests that nations with large registries – a large shipping industry flying their flag – by and large support industry’s lobbying position, which is to oppose an ambitious greenhouse gas target compatible with the Paris Agreement, as well as short-term reduction measures,” the report said.

Meanwhile, a government spokeswoman has said that while the government was open to suggestions for how to help improve air quality, lobbying international neighbours was no simple task.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.