New figures reveal that the changes in the law introduced by the Danish government have had a beneficial effect on the amount of merchant shipping registered under the national flag.

Denmark’s register has seen an extremely healthy growth rate of almost 25 percent over the last 12 months – figures that have not been seen since the 1990s. The next-fastest growing register was Portugual’s at around 23, followed some way behind by Indonesia at nearly 10 percent and the UK and Japan at almost the same level, reports the Danish shipping organisation Danske Rederier.

At the beginning of this year, Parliament removed a registration tax that was seen as a hindrance to the competitiveness of the Danish flag.

“This development is especially due to the visionary policy in Denmark of removing the registration tax on second-hand ships,” said Anne H. Steffensen, the CEO of Danske Rederier.

The Danish ship register now has 20 million gross registered tonnes on its books distributed over 700 vessels. Denmark is now the world’s 12th-largest flag state and number four in Europe.

Source: cphpost.dk

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