SHIPPING authorities said yesterday they would be raising the Turkish ban on Cypriot-flagged vessels with EU Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot during the Maritime Cyprus Conference in Limassol from September 26-28.
At a news conference in Nicosia, both the government and the Cyprus Shipping Council warned that the continued ban on the docking of Cypriot-flagged ships in Turkish ports, imposed in 1987, was threatening the viability of the Cyprus flag.
Two years ago, Cyprus had the fourth largest ship registry in the world with over 2,500 ships under its flag. Last year, the Cyprus registry had dropped to ninth place with just over 1,000 ships. The island is still the third largest registry within the EU after Greece and Malta, but cannot attract European ship owners due to the restrictions imposed by Turkey.
Ankara recently signed a customs union protocol with the 10 new EU member states, including Cyprus, but has not yet lifted the ban for political reasons, although the EU has made it clear to Turkey that the protocol included the freedom of movement of goods.
“This isn’t a political issue. It’s a problem for the shipping industry and a flagrant violation of EU rules,” said Thomas Kazakos, general-secretary of the Cyprus Shipping Council (CSC).
“This is the primary problem facing our shipping industry, and the main deterrent for use of the Cyprus flag.”
Not only are Cyprus-flagged ships banned, according to Kazakos, but also those managed by Cyprus-based companies in Limassol, one of the leading ship management centres in the world.
Michael Constantinides, the Permanent Secretary of the Communications and Works Ministry gave an example of what Cyprus was losing out on by citing the case of a company ready to register a large number of its 260 ships under the Cyprus flag, if the Turkish ban was lifted.
Kazakos said extraordinary efforts would be made over the three-day conference to have something done about the issue.
“This will be one of the issues that will come up, because it not only affects the Cyprus shipping industry, but it is also a violation of EU shipping laws,” he said.
“This ban affects not only ships under the Cypriot flag but also ships in which there are European economic interests.”
This year’s conference titled ‘Shipping: What lies ahead? A three-piece puzzle’, is the ninth biennial Maritime Cyprus, and the first since Cyprus joined the EU in May 2004.
Kazakos said Maritime Cyprus was one of the few specialised international conferences on shipping worldwide. “This is not a sales pitch for Cyprus,” said Kazakos. “It’s an opportunity for shipping executives around the world and we expect more than 750 people from 35 countries.”
In addition to Barrot, also attending will be Efthymios Mitropoulos, the secretary-general of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and Chris Horrocks, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Shipping International Shipping Federation.
Kazakos said participants would be focusing on three areas, which the industry believes are of primary importance to day-to-day international shipping.
He said these were maritime industrial relations, maritime security and ship-owning and finance.
“Our speakers will be of a very high calibre,” he said. “The conference will be a bit more focused, a bit more specialised. We don’t want a dry conference. We want people on the front line and an exchange of information and experience and forecasts to be made for the near future.”
