"Turkish ban on Cyprus ships biggest problem for registry
By Jean Christou
THE TURKISH ban on Cypriot vessels is the number one problem for the shipping industry, the Cyprus Shipping Council (CSC) said this week.
Addressing the CSC’s annual general meeting on Friday, its president Andreas Droussiotis, said the ban had caused hundreds of ships over the years to re-flag out of Cyprus and prevented hundreds of other ships from using the Cyprus Registry.
“In recent years, the Turkish ban has been milder in cases of non-Cyprus flag ships being managed from Cyprus calling in Turkey,” he said. “This however, damaged our flag as we did not get the share we expected from the international market.”
Droussiotis said the issue had now become a European one since Turkey signed the customs union protocol with the 10 new member states. However, Ankara still refuses to lift the ban on Cypriot ships."
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