Increase in Mercantile Vessel Registration in Malta

Transport Malta, the Authority responsible for the Register of Ships in Malta, has registered a considerable increase in the number of mercantile vessels registered over the past year. The Ship Registry, in fact, announced that by the end of August of this year, 7,109 mercantile vessels were on its registry flying the Maltese Flag with a gross tonnage of over 62 million. The figure marks an increase of 6.8% when compared to the same period last year.

This announcement maintains Malta’s reputation as a maritime hub, with the island increasingly attracting investment to this booming sector and further confirmed the positive performance of 2014 which made Malta reach the 6th worldwide ranking (up from 7th), whilst further consolidating its position as the largest Register in Europe. In fact, as at the end of December 2014, the registered gross tonnage under the Merchant Shipping Act was 57.9 million gross tons.

Today, the Malta Register has also become a world leader in commercial yachts registration where Malta has also registered positive results. Despite the current financial situation worldwide, during 2014 the Malta flag registered an increase of 13.6% over the previous year in the registration of super-yachts of over 24 metres in length. As of the end of December 2014, the super-yacht fleet flying the conspicuous Maltese cross worldwide was 452.