Malta establishing itself as a leader in the maritime industry

Malta’s Minister for Transport, Infrastructures and Capital Projects Ian Borg recently announced that over 800 yachts of over 24 meters have been registered under the Maltese flag. Dr. Borg further confirmed that the register had grown more than 10 per cent from the previous year.

This would confirm what many analysts have been insisting; namely that the Maltese shipping registry has been experiencing unprecedented success; being also officially recognised as the largest shipping register in the EU and the sixth largest globally. Malta is thus on track in establishing itself as a leader within the maritime industry.

Two factors that have led to this success by Malta are the reputation enjoyed by the Maltese flag and the Maltese register and, the possibility of fiscal planning.

The Tonnage Tax scheme, relaunched by the government in May this year, has various incentives to further attract commercial yachts, allowing ships carrying specific shipping activities to be exempt from Maltese income tax in relation to income derived from the yachts, its working capital and dividend distributions. The Maltese Tonnage Tax scheme has recently been fully endorsed by the European Commission.