Maritime ministers meet in Cyprus, 2H 2013 revenues at €417m

Sustainable development of maritime transport is the main subject of discussion at the Ministerial summit on maritime issues taking place in Limassol on Tuesday.
The meeting, organised by the Ministry of Communication and Works, is being attended by government officials and representatives of organisations from Russia, the United States, Great Britain, the Bahamas, Denmark, Greece and Malta and takes place on the sidelines of the 3-day annual meeting of the International Chamber of Shipping.
The Cyprus Shipping Chamber is marking its 25th anniversary by hosting this year’s meeting of the ICS, taking place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Limassol.
The CSC is also organising a gala dinner at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, which has been placed under the auspices and will be attended by President Nicos Anastasiades.
According to Cyprus Central Bank data, revenues from shipmanagement reached €417 mln in the second half of 2013, up 3.73% from the €402 mln in the first half, with the sector contributing 5.1% to the island’s GDP, the only sector that has shown stability during the troubled past year of the economy.
The revenue level was, however, the lowest in four years, indicative of some impact from the island’s economic meltdown that affected all sectors.
Some 85% of revenues from shipmanagement arose from services provided to foreign-flag ships, up from 82% in the first half of 2013.
Germany remains the biggest partner of the Cyprus maritime sector accounting for 53% of the shipmanagement business, followed by Vietnam-flagged vessels (6%), Russia (5%), Singapore (4%) and 2% each from Greece, Liberia, the Netherlands and Italy.
On a revenue basis, 48% from shipmanagement derives from Germany or about €200 mln, followed by Poland (8%), Curacao, (6%), Holland (5%), Singapore (4%) and 2% each from Russia, Marshall Islands and Norway.
The preferred service provided to German shipowners is crew management (52%) which in turn accounts for 43% of all services in the sector.
Full shipmanagement accounts for 46% of business, of which 22% is from Russian shipowners, 12% from Germany and 10% from Malta. Technical management accounts for 11% of shipmanagement business, while there were no cases of chartering recorded in the second half of 2013.
In the case of expenses, the bulk of 55% of the €368 mln in costs accounted for crew wages, of which 40% was paid to non-EU nationals. A further 27% of costs went to management fees and 18% to shipmanagement rates.
The costs were paid in the Philippines (22%), followed by Cyprus (20%), Poland (10%) and Ukraine (10). The costs paid to the Philippines, Poland and Ukraine were mainly crew wages.