President Nicos Anastasiades, addresing the 25th anniversary of Fleet Management Ltd, said that enhancing the strategic advantages of the Cyprus maritime cluster remains a high priority for the government.

“We are all aware that our shipping industry operates in a highly competitive global environment, thus requiring stability and long-term innovative planning in order to further evolve,” Anastasiades said.

He further noted that they are focused primarily on strengthening their role in the international shipping space, building up the competitiveness of the Cyprus Flag and creating conditions for the sustainable growth of the shipping industry.

“A number of other measures and incentives are also under examination with further targeted actions that will improve the services and standards we provide, such as, amongst others, updating our competitive shipping taxation framework and the pricing policy for the Cyprus Register of Ships,” he said.

Attending to the wish of the Cyprus shipping sector, the Cypriot government has already established a Deputy Ministry for shipping. Additionally, ship-management firms reached €1.03 billion in revenues in 2018, an increase of 9% within one year, while the gross tonnage of the Cyprus Ship Register increased to 24.5 million gross tonnes, the highest figure recorded since 2010.

Moreover, the President said that since the establishment of the Deputy Ministry in March 2018, the number of shipping companies under Cyprus’s tonnage tax system has increased from 168 to 215.

“We will continue examining ways of introducing more incentives, also in consultation and collaboration with the private sector, in order to ensure that Cyprus keeps its competitive edge as a shipping centre,” Anastasiades said.