NICOSIA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Shipping in Cyprus has been seriously impacted by the conflict in Ukraine and the resulting European Union (EU) sanctions against Russia, the Shipping Deputy Minister Marina Hadjimanolis told the parliament's Transport Committee on Thursday.
Despite its small size, Cyprus ranks 3rd in Europe and 11th in the world in ship tonnage registered under its flag. It also holds the third place globally as a ship management center, hosting around 20 percent 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 tons to 23.8 million gross tons.
Sanctions by Türkiye banning Cyprus-registered ships from using Turkish ports and territorial waters were other reasons shipowners left the Cyprus registry, said Hadjimanolis. This ban effectively bars Cyprus-registered ships from participating in the transport of Ukrainian cereals under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, she explained.
Türkiye does not recognize 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 percent of Cyprus' territory.
Hadjimanolis told the committee that shipping contributed about 7 percent of Cyprus' gross domestic product, which was provisionally estimated at 27 billion euros (29.4 billion dollars) in 2022.
