The Malta Ship Registry, has set up a new regional office within the Malta Embassy in Greece.
The new office will primarily be focused to support the marketing and promotional functions of the Malta Ship Registry and add further value to the Hellenic shipping industry and shipowners. It will also act as a permanent promotional platform for the Maltese Maritime cluster and will liaise with the various local and Greek stakeholders to identify potential sectors and propose initiatives to spur business opportunities for the local maritime sector.
It is a known fact that more shipping capacity is managed from Greece than any other country with practically all leading ship-owning and managing companies in the world based or have a permanent presence in the Hellenic state.
“Greece, considered as the maritime capital of the world, represents a large community of ship owners. It also represents an important market for our Shipping Register. We thus want to be nearer to such a core market. Ranked as the largest Shipping register in Europe and 6th largest worldwide, as at today, over 3,000 merchant vessels fly the Maltese Flag with a gross registered gross tonnage of more than 82.5 million gross tons. The Registry has been registering year on year record growth figures for the past years doubling its fleet in the last 5 years and this step will help us to consolidate what we have already achieved whilst working for more achievements. ” said the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, Dr Ian Borg, during the official inauguration of the office at the Malta Embassy in Athens.
One of the key elements that drove the growth of the Maltese shipping register over the past years, particularly within the Greek shipping market, was the establishment of a Consulate office in Piraeus way back in the late 1980’s. Acting as an important interface between the Greek ship owners, their representatives and the Maltese shipping register, the Consulate was instrumental for the Malta Ship Registry to establish itself as one of the leading registers on the world. Building on the consulate’s excellent work, the Malta Ship Registry is gearing up to further develop this setup for the future.
Malta made its first Greek ship registration market insights in the early 1970’s. Nowadays, many of the major Greek shipping companies are among the Island’s senior partners. Over the years, the Registry has built strong relationships with the Greek Shipping community, with the Greeks now consider the Malta flag as their second home and as their flag of choice and trust.
Minister Borg concluded: “We need to continue to work proactively to ensure that Maritime Malta continues to be a leader in the maritime sector. Our Registry, a major contributor of direct foreign revenue and value added to our economy, remains committed to continue serving the maritime industry, both from our shores and now also in foreign countries. The opening of this new office is yet another milestone towards further consolidating Malta as an international centre of maritime excellence in the Mediterranean.”
