EU head of maritime transport critical of Malta's ship register

by Anthony Manduca

The head of the European Commission's Maritime Transport Directorate, Georgette Lalis, who paid a visit to Malta last week, is said to have been highly critical of the Malta's ship register during her meetings with various Maltese officials. Ms Lalis met with Transport Minister Censu Galea, officials from the Malta Maritime Authority and representatives of the local Association of Ship Owners.

Ms Lalis is reported to have said that it was completely unacceptable for well kept vessels to be registered in the United States and vessels in poor conditions to be registered in Europe. She was not only critical of Malta's ship register but also of some other European flags. The principle argument locally was that the blame should not be apportioned to Malta or Maltese officials but to RINA, the Italian classification society.

Although the recent sinking off the coast of Brittany of Erika, the Maltese registered vessel, was discussed between Ms Lalis and Maltese officials, the visit had been planned since November, before the incident occurred. The government is now waiting the EU directorate's reaction following Ms Lalis' visit.

The 1999 European Commission updated report on Malta's EU application had been rather critical of Malta's ship register: It had said: "Maritime Transport is a key issue for Malta and full implementation of the community acquis is still some distance away.

"Conditions for setting up shipping companies in Malta and obtaining the Maltese flag are less stringent than those generally applied by member States. As far as implementation is concerned, Malta still does not apply certain key safety and pollution standards and progress is urgently needed. The poor safety performance of vessels on the Maltese register is a matter of concern. The improvement of the flag State administration remains a priority. A sound strategy needs to be put in place in order to remove substandard shipping from the register."