Shipping & yachting

Malta’s unique and strategic location in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, its deep harbours, world class port facilities and superyacht marinas offer a haven for international shipping. The island’s extensive range of international maritime services, such as freeport, shipbuilding and repair, bunkering, ship supplies and towage services, have greatly contributed to Malta’s outstanding reputation. Moreover, the legislation on the registration of yachts takes into account the distinctive requirements of the yachting industry and the registration of private and commercial yachts in Malta holds an attractive proposition. There has also been a significant increase in the registration of superyacht tonnage driven by the availability of tax planning and structuring. Malta is the sixth largest maritime flag in the world and the largest in Europe. The Maltese flag inspires the confidence of ship owners, financiers and management companies all over the world who continue to choose Malta above others.

Ship registration, ship finance, yachting and admiralty law are at the heart of the firm’s maritime law practice. Our firm was a pioneer in these fields and our specialist maritime lawyers hold leading industry expertise and provide dependable support and advice, making the firm amongst the most established in this area. We focus on assisting ship owners, ship operators and their financiers with all transactions concerning ships, on the registration of vessels and of mortgages under the Malta flag and on all related legal and technical aspects, including:

• tonnage tax advice;
• advice specifically focused on third party ship managers;
• advice on port activities and port regulatory regime;
• advice on ship recycling and maritime environmental issues; and
• advice to shipyards and ship repairers.

We also advise and assist yacht owners and their financiers with all transactions involving yachts and superyachts including registration, yacht financing, yacht sales and acquisitions and yacht leasing. The team ensures that the Malta ship and yacht registration procedure is amalgamated with corporate finance and tax and corporate and M&A advice for the purposes of implementing a structure that provides the client with asset protection and fiscal advantages, when available.