Malta's ship register largest in Europe

Malta has the largest ship register in Europe and the seventh largest in the world, Transport Minister Austin Gatt said this morning.

Addressing a press conference about the Malta maritime register, Austin Gatt said that for the first time in its maritime history, Malta has the largest ship register in Europe after surpassing Greece.

"Malta now has 5,830 vessels registered increasing its tonnage by 16% to 45.6 million tonnes. These positive results are not down to financial conditions but the quality of the service offered. Not every applicant vessel made it to Malta's register and there was a rigorous process which had to be followed," Gatt said.

"The maritime industry generates a lot of foreign currency. In 2011, Transport Malta had a gross income of €12.5 million from the register." However, Gatt could not give an exact figure for the industry's contribution to Malta's gross domestic product.

"Transport Malta's employees are our biggest asset. Transport Malta is on call 24/7 offering a very good service at all times of the day," Gatt said.

Gatt said the Maltese flag is a serious one and for many years the country had been on the white list of the The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control which aims to eliminate the operation of sub-standard ships through a harmonized system of port State control. He added that since last year the Maltese flag is classified as a low-risk flag.  

The authority's general registrar, Ivan Sammut said that the vessels on Malta's registry come from many different countries including the Far East, the US, Germany and Greece. He said Malta's register is very diverse and listed all types of vessels including cruise liners and around 300 super yachts.