The fourth MMS Malta Maritime Summit will take place in Valletta in 40 days, which defines itself as ‘the voice of the industry’, bringing together maritime operators and government institutions from different countries
August 27, 2024 at 02:45 PM
The tireless and dynamic John Gauci-Maistre, an esteemed professional with over half a century of experience in shipping who is somewhat of an unofficial ambassador for maritime Malta abroad, can no longer wait to finally see the substantial project of biennial conference that he himself conceived, about ten years ago, with the decisive support of Transport Malta, practically equivalent to our Ministry of Transport, as well as the central Government of Valletta.
The fourth edition of the Malta Maritime Summit – after the inaugural one in 2016, followed by 2018 and 2022, with the inevitable gap in 2020 due to Covid – is now almost upon us and therefore, judging by the content of the planned interventions, the great efforts of the Maltese maritime lawyer, who involves the entire staff of his GM law firm in the demanding organization (not unlike what his Neapolitan colleague Francesco Saverio Lauro has done for years with his successful Shipping & the Law, which could be resurrected next year…)
“As usual, the conference will take place over four and a half days; by definition the MMS intends to stimulate various debates with the aim of reaching conclusions and formulating proposals that will be presented to various stakeholders for their consideration. Hence the theme ‘The Voice of the Industry’ which we arrogate as the subtitle of the conference” explains Gauci-Maistre to Ship2Shore, the only Italian media partner designated for this important international event.
Between 7 and 11 October, therefore, the small island in the Western Mediterranean is preparing to host primary stakeholders of global shipping and their political interlocutors of reference, i.e. the representatives of the ministries of various countries (not just part of the EU), in order to trigger a direct and frank dialogue on the major current issues in the sector.
Even for the 2024 edition the agenda is very busy, and the numerous sessions will tend to examine and discern whether the EU vision on the maritime sector is fully in line with sectoral expectations together with other ‘hot’ topics such as intelligence artificial and the sanctions imposed on belligerent countries in a historical phase in which, unfortunately, conflicts are rife across almost the entire globe, and the related impact also on shipping flows is very tangible and decidedly heavy.
Coordinated as technical director by the British specialist journalist Nigel Lowry, for decades Lloyd’s List correspondent from Greece, the world’s leading shipping market, the works will focus on a different main line of discussion for each of the 4 (half) (morning) days, thus leaving free participants to have free time in the afternoon with their favourite social networking site.
A significant number of shipping and transport ministers from various countries are expected, who in addition to participating in various round tables, should also meet on the side-lines of the summit for a sort of unofficial summit. Meetings in past years have provided the opportunity for tripartite meetings on maritime issues between senior shipping officials from Malta, Greece and Cyprus, who are commonly aligned on many maritime issues. This year, the organizers expect the participation of ministers from as many as 6 or 7 EU countries; with a new European Commission elected this year, Brussels’ representation is a little less clear at this stage in the making.
The location of Malta to hold the conference week was certainly not a random choice.
The island can in fact still boast the largest fleet in the EU under its flag, which among other things gained 3% in terms of tonnage in the first five months of this year; Malta’s is currently the 6th largest shipping registry in the world. The latest official figures provided by Transport Malta’s merchant shipping directorate cited a merchant fleet of 1,904 vessels totalling 83 million gross tonnes at the end of May 2024.
The port sector is also an important feature of the island’s maritime identity.
This year Malta Freeport is expected to complete an extension to one of Marsaxlokk’s container terminals which will increase the port’s annual capacity to 4 million TEUs. Here too, Maltese maritime interests have already raised the alarm about the negative effects of the EU ETS on transhipment activities for EU ports in the Mediterranean, which could be undermined by nearby non-EU hubs. For Malta in particular, concerns have been raised that there may be a loss of connectivity for imports and exports currently transported by container lines which include Malta as
an integral part of their transhipment itineraries
“Launched as a biannual, week-long event in 2016, the summit has already earned a reputation as a forum for direct dialogue on shipping and shipping policy. We need events where people can talk openly about their concerns rather than continuing to hide disagreements behind the shame of false diplomacy,” says the founder and organizer of the summit.
In the previous edition, that of 2022, which had marked the post-pandemic recovery, there was a ‘refreshing’ measure of consensus between the industry and regulatory bodies on issues such as the need to better promote the role of navigation and to address industry challenges such as decarbonisation on a global rather than regional basis.
“It will be interesting to see if there is now the same general consensual agreement given that times have changed, and I would say negatively compared to the optimism that was felt two years ago at the end of the dark period of the great global health crisis” he says Gauci-Maistre again.
The full agenda of this year’s summit has not yet been fully completed, although part of it was made public at the end of July, but the four main themes of the four days of work have obviously been defined. After the presentation on Monday with the scenic Grand Harbour cruise tour by boat and related Opening Reception accompanied by the culmination of the Malta Maritime Awards ceremony, from Tuesday to Saturday the following will be addressed: the major problems in the development of transport policies in within the EU and IMO; sustainability, decarbonisation and emissions trading in shipping; the legal and financial challenges of the maritime sector; yachting and sea tourism.
“Some of the main topics will probably be raised in several sessions” says the organizer again. “The leitmotif of our summit is always to be the voice of an industry that today finds itself talking daily about artificial intelligence, ETS, sanctions and attacks on navigation safety, among the major hot topics”.
As a Member State of the EU, Malta has a strong stake in matters of the Union’s policy towards the maritime sector.
According to Gauci Maistre, the EU’s vision for the maritime sector, if it is truly in tune with the needs of the sector, will be one of the underlying themes of discussion at the event in early October, which will return to its original location of the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Floriana.
The summit has recently signed agreements that combine it, as a twinning, with Naples Shipping Week and Genoa Shipping Week; and therefore, there will probably be an unprecedented participation from Italy. A strong presence is also expected from Greece, whose owners have long been a mainstay of the Maltese-flagged fleet.
This 2024 summit will also be the first summit since the 50th anniversary of the genesis of the Maltese flag with the Merchant Shipping Act of 1973, although only in 1978 did a Greek shipowner register the first ocean-going vessel flying the Maltese flag.
In conclusion, Gauci-Maistre is quick to point out that the focus of the summit is, obviously, not just Malta. “It is held here as the centre of the Mediterranean but the event concerns the world of navigation in a broader sense”.
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Text translated into english from Italian by John Gauci-Maistre; first appeared in ship2shore.it. Text edited by Angelo Scorza, all photos by ship2shore.
