Nicosia, March 31 : Shipping in Cyprus has been seriously impacted by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the resulting European Union (EU) sanctions against Moscow, a Minister informed Parliament.
Despite its small size, Cyprus ranks third in Europe and 11th in the world in ship tonnage registered under its flag, reports Xinhua news agency.
It also holds the third place globally as a ship management centre, hosting around 20 per cent of the world’s third-party ship management activities.
Data from last year showed that as a result of the removal of the Russia-flagged ships, and the change of registration by other vessels, the total strength of Cyprus-registered ships was reduced from 24.6 million gross tonnes to 23.8 million gross tonnes.
Addressing Parliament’s Transport Committee on Thursday, Shipping Deputy Minister Marina Hadjimanolis said that sanctions by Turkey banning Cyprus-registered ships from using Turkish ports and territorial waters were other reasons shipowners left the Cyprus registry.
This ban effectively bars Cyprus-registered ships from participating in the transport of Ukrainian cereals under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the Minister explained.
Turkey does not recognise Cyprus as a state, and the two countries are technically still at war following a 1974 Turkish military operation against Cyprus.
Turkish troops still control 37 per cent of Cyprus’ territory.
Hadjimanolis told the committee that shipping contributed about 7 per cent of Cyprus’ gross domestic product, which was provisionally estimated at 27 billion euros in 2022.
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