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          Shipping Stevedoring Port Services Hydrocarbons Diving  Sep-Oct 2008 
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UK raise the Red Ensign29 October 2003
New maritime statistics highlight Blair Government success in reversing the decline of UK shipping, Tradewinds reports New statistics reveal shipping in the UK is making a comeback. But the bulk of UK-flag tonnage comes from foreign shipowners, while UK-based owners still prefer to flag their ships outside the UK, including "British" flags registered in the Isle of Man and Bermuda. Since 1997, when Labour came to power, the UK-owned and UK-registered fleet has risen from 342 ships of 2.1 million deadweight tonnes to 380 of 3.7m dwt at the end of last year (3.4m dwt in 2001). Over the same period the UK-owned fleet flagged elsewhere rose marginally from 8.4m dwt to 8.5m dwt. The figures released by the Department for Transport also show the fleet of trading ships over 500 gross tons on the UK register stood at 497 totalling 6.7m dwt tonnes. There were a further 228 ships registered in Crown Dependencies totalling 8.9m dwt. In other words more than half of the UK-flag fleet is foreign-owned and only 30% of the UK-owned fleet is flagged in the UK. Last month shipping minister, David Jamieson, claimed there had been an increase of 171% since 1997. The minister referred to UK-flagged "sizable" trading ships measured in gross tons. The commentary in the latest official statistics refers to an increase of only 62% in deadweight tonnes.
Much of any increase is attributed to the success of the tonnage tax scheme introduced in 2000. The scheme and a more "user-friendly" register have attracted foreign shipping companies, with Evergreen of Taiwan one of the biggest names. Its UK subsidiary, Hatsu Marine, now has seven ships on the UK register and in the tonnage tax scheme and more are set to follow. The Ofer brothers' Zodiac Maritime also has ships both UK-flagged and tonnage-taxed. Even Cosco of China is weighing up a British move. The UK register's statistical total of 6.7m dwt is still tiny when set against the top five giants: Panama (186m dwt), Liberia (76m dwt), Greece (49m dwt), Bahamas (48m dwt) and Malta (43.4m dwt).
For further information
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