A Weight Off The Maritime Industry’s Shoulders…EU State Guidelines To Remain Unchanged

The EU maritime industry can finally breathe a sigh of relief and savour a much needed victory for common sense. Towards the end of last week reliable sources began confirming that EU State Guidelines will remain unchanged. Although the decision took longer to be reached than was desirable, its significance is immediately apparent to all those in the industry – the tonnage tax regime is here to stay...at least for now. This was further confirmed by Mr Karamitsos* during his speech at Maritime Cyprus 2013.  This is definitely very encouraging news, not only for major EU flag States such as Malta, but for the EU maritime industry as a whole. The uncertainty that arose due to the EU Commission investigation into the tonnage tax regime was not only of concern to flag States but also to other stakeholders such as shipowners who had serious concerns that during these testing times their profitability would be negatively impacted even further.