Manageable were the effects on the Cypriot registry due to the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia, following the latter's invasion of Ukraine, said Deputy Minister of Shipping Vassilis Dimitriadis.
In particular, informing the parliamentary finance committee about the budget of his Deputy Ministry for 2023, Mr. Dimitriadis said that the losses are manageable.
As he mentioned, during the first 10 months of the year, 144 ships have been deleted from the Cypriot registry, most of which are related to Russia or contracted to serve Russia's export trade and could not operate under the Cypriot flag.
“But we are happy to note that we had 122 new registrations in the Cypriot registry,” said Mr. Dimitriadis both speaking before the committee and in statements after the session and added: “Well, maybe the sanctions against Russia didn't allow us to have an increase in the fleet, but the reduction is to an extent that is completely manageable”.
EU sanctions, we are shooting ourselves in the foot
Furthermore, answering questions regarding the impact of sanctions against Russia on European shipping compared to other sectors, Mr. Dimitriadis said that European shipping is being punished, without necessarily isolating Russia and its economic interests, since especially in the Russian oil transport embargo a ship for example of Cypriot importance moves to another registry outside the EU and continues to trade with Russia. “And so we're shooting ourselves in the foot,” he said, reiterating that the EU and G7 countries account for only 17% of the world's oil tanker fleet.
If the embargo is lifted Cypriot shipping will launch
Regarding the Turkish embargo, Mr. Dimitriadis emphasized that the Deputy Ministry raises this issue in all its contacts abroad, which “really constitutes a disadvantage” for Cypriot shipping. He also indicated that if the embargo did not exist a large part of the Greek-owned fleet would choose Cyprus to register its ships instead of Malta, which, as he stated, is limited to the registry and does not have an integrated maritime complex of shipping activities like Cyprus.< /p>
“In all the contacts we make with shipowners for some ships that we estimate do not trade with Turkey, we ask them to try us precisely because those who have tried us have to say that the services they enjoy from the Deputy Ministry are direct and are, in fact, much better from other competing registries”, he said and added that when the Turkish embargo is lifted “the perspective of Cypriot shipping in terms of the fleet will soar and this is a reality”.
2023 the critical year for the Cyprus-Greece maritime connection
Speaking before the Commission, Mr. Dimitriadis gave information on the first year of implementation of the Cyprus-Greece maritime connection, which is also being implemented with state support. As he said, during the first year of implementation, a total of 7,412 passengers, 1,946 vehicles and 205 pets were transported, while 37 complaints have been received from passengers, i.e. 0.5% of the total.
“This does not make us complacent, we are in contact with the contracting company and we will have a press conference on how we further improve the service,” he added. step” he said and added that next year “is the big bet, to see how many repeat passengers will be and to see if we create a market”.
Moreover, answering a question from the MP of DIKO Christos Orphanidis that he has information based on which, due to the subsidy of the route, the occupancy of the ship is much lower, Mr. Dimitriadis said that this issue is related to the number of cabins available, since sometimes larger cabin to meet the needs of a smaller family, resulting in an impression that the ship is not complete.
“Therefore, there are inevitably gaps, but if there are specific complaints, I invite all passengers to share them with us so that we can evaluate them. The goal is for the service to become sustainable and improve so that even without the government subsidy after three or six years it will remain and offer this alternative connectivity,” he said.
22 of the 35 goals were achieved. of the strategy
Furthermore, Vassilis Dimitriadis emphasized that the Deputy Ministry has already implemented 22 of the 35 actions of the long-term strategy for shipping (Sea Change 2030), which leads to a “new model of perception and approach to shipping events”.
As he said, the strategy is based on three main pillars, extroversion, competitiveness and sustainability. And the structure of the Deputy Ministry was made in a way that supports this strategy, he added.
“The budget supports this strategy, it seeks to support the implementation of actions to become more timeless and competitive”, added the Mr. Dimitriadis.
He noted that under the National Recovery and Resiliency Plan, the Deputy Ministry has drawn up a digitalization program for all its activities with a target of implementation in early 2024.
“At the beginning of 2024, the Deputy Ministry will operate in a paperless environment,” he said , adding that, from the beginning of next year, an application will be available on mobile phones through which users will enjoy all services that have been digitized. “This is particularly important because shipping needs speed, efficiency,” he added,
Time credit for zeroing performance at the end of registration
Asked whether the decision taken by the Deputy Ministry to zero the annual registration fee in the Cypriot registry, which was taken in 2019, worked, Mr. Dimitriadis said that the zeroing of the fees is an important part of the package of advantages of the Cypriot registry. He noted, however, that due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Cypriot flag was not displayed until the last four months. “I think we should leave this measure for another one or two years,” he said, adding that an age limit has now been set for the registration of Cypriot-flagged ships, which has led to a better quality fleet with far fewer detentions of Cypriot-flagged ships.
Moves are expected for a new building
Responding to comments by MPs that the Deputy Ministry is housed in three different buildings, Mr. Dimitriadis said that after the collapse of the open process for the purchase of a building “we have turned to the utilization of state land in Limassol”, for the construction of a modern building.
< p>He even said that “suffocating timetables have been set by the President of the Republic himself for us to make decisions within November”.
Furthermore, the Director General of the Cyprus Chamber of Shipping, Thomas Kazakos highlighted the “global support » which is given to shipping, stressing that it is one of the best tools Cypriot shipping representatives have for promoting the sector abroad.
“For us, the best advertiser is the existing companies that have been in Cyprus for 50 or 60 years”, he said, adding that the improvement and the provision of more direct service will convince more companies to come to the island.
All committee members praised Cypriot shipping and its contribution to the Cypriot economy.
“Shipping also contributes decisively to the strengthening of the state entity of the Republic of Cyprus through the use of the Cypriot flag and certainly in the employment sector”, said the chairman of the committee, DIKO Member of Parliament Chrysis Pantelidis, highlighting the important role played by the sector of shipping with a contribution of around 7% to the GDP.
Disy Member of Parliament (and member of the Transport committee) Fotini Tsiridou praised the implementation of the long-term strategy of the Deputy Ministry and added that the government with the support of DISY has succeeded to take the shipping of Cyprus even higher in recent years and of course with the establishment of the Deputy Ministry.
AKEL Member of Parliament Kostas Kostas expressed the party's intention to continue supporting the shipping sector and indicated that ” the challenges are before us and we need vision and timely planning to face them”.
And the Member of Parliament of DIPA – Cooperation, Marinos Mousioutas praised the “good work” being done, while the Environmentalist MP Stavros Papadouris expressed his satisfaction with the work carried out by the Deputy Ministry.
