Natasa Pilides, the junior minister in charge of shipping, said that two of the P&O Ferries’ fleet of six vessels “have already registered” under the Cyprus flag, as the British cross-Channel operator activated its Brexit plans to mitigate the impact of a disorderly departure from the EU.
The remaining four are expected to come on board soon, industry sources said.
Pilides, speaking at the inauguration of the Cyprus Shipping Chamber’s refurbished offices in Limassol on Friday, said “there is interest from British shipping companies” about re-registering in Cyprus or even moving their operations to the island.
She said the primary interest was from ferry-type vessels as Cyprus has the technical knowhow when it comes to ferry operators.
“We already have 60 ferries registered here that operate in various EU ports,” Pilides added.
CSC Director General Thomas Kazakos said efforts to attract shipping companies “has been underway for the past six years”, and that the focus had been on shipowners as well as maritime service, such as insurance.
Kazakos said that Cyprus’ two strongest selling points were its attractive taxation rules, approved by the European Union, that have been in place since 2010, and the credibility of the Cyprus flag.
Already, British insurer London P&I Club established a subsidiary in Cyprus to ensure continued access to trade in the European Union in case Britain loses single market access.
P&O, which began life as the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation company in 1837, recently announced that all six of its Dover-Calais ferries would be re-registered from the UK registry in Cyprus to keep EU tax benefits, the Guardian newspaper reported.
The ferries include the Spirit of Britain and the Spirit of France, that were the first to raise the Cyprus flag, to be followed by the Pride of Kent, the Pride of Canterbury, the Pride of Burgundy and the European Seaway.
Effectively, none of the 20-fleet P&O Group vessels are now British flagged, with the remaining fleet registered in the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Netherlands and Finland.
In 2006, the P&O Group, including P&O Ferries, was sold to DP World, the Dubai-owned maritime conglomerate.
“In advance of Britain leaving the European Union on 29 March 2019, we undertook a review of the flag status of our ships on the English Channel. For operational and accounting reasons, we have concluded that the best course of action is to re-flag all ships to be under the Cyprus flag,” a P&O spokesman recently told the Cyprus News Agency.
“The Cyprus flag is on the ‘white list’ of both the Paris and Tokyo Memoranda of Understanding, resulting in fewer inspections and delays, and will result in significantly more favourable tonnage tax arrangements as the ships will be flagged in an EU member state.
“We have no plans to make any other changes, including the terms and conditions of any of our seafarers, as a result of the new arrangements,” the P&O official said.
For Cyprus, last year’s decision by London P&I Club and the latest move by P&O Ferries is a big vote of confidence as the island has recently upped its maritime hub marketing and now has a shipping cabinet position within government, upscaling the Department of Merchant Shipping in March 2018.
