18


Issue 4 2015 - Freight Business Journal


///MALTA


The very model of a modern Med economy


With unemployment under 6% (half the average for the Eurozone as a whole), inflation of just 0.6% and economic growth a very respectable 3-3.5%, Malta is a beacon of hope in woebegone southern Europe. What a pity, economists must think, that its success cannot be easily replicated in some of the larger European countries.


Small but perfectly formed


The tiny speck in the southern Med (geographically,


belongs as much to Africa


Malta as


Europe) has been leading most of the rest of the Euro area for several years now. While the global banking and economic crisis did not exactly spare Malta, of


the financial


it escaped the worst storms that


wreaked such havoc in Spain and Italy. The country did slip into recession in 2009, when the economy contracted by around 2%, but the fall was barely half that for the Euro area as a whole and, moreover, Malta quickly


recovered. Malta’s small but important banking sector came out of the crisis relatively well and is now seen as a help, rather than a hindrance, to its economic recovery. A European Commission


country report on Malta, published in February, says that the economy and labour market continued to perform well in 2014 and the outlook for 2015-16 remains favourable. One factor in Malta’s strong


showing is that exports have continued to outpace imports and the net trading position has


improved lately. While truck and container operators


struggling


to fill empty return capacity out of the island may disagree, the value of Malta’s exports have been growing strongly – but pharmaceuticals and electronics are not high volume goods. In fact, many of Malta’s exports are not tangible at all - services have been the main driver of overseas earnings for many years. Oil rig repair and servicing are


another promising area, now that one of the remaining shipyards has finally been privatised. This would build on the island’s


heritage in ship building and repair, and also allow it to exploit its position, slap bang in the middle of the Mediterranean trade lanes. In fact, it has been suggested


by people in the local logistics industry that Malta could turn this surfeit of empty freight space to its advantage. Thanks to its Freeport, the tiny island is in the unusual position of enjoying very frequent shipping services from China and many other parts of the world - daily in some cases. All it would take, so the theory goes, would be for


an entrepreneurial freight forwarder to match this with abundant and – presumably – cheap outward trailer capacity to Europe, and Malta could become a transhipment hub par excellence. Lack of modern warehousing


and customs procedures have so far frustrated this, but the current government is reportedly interested


in developing


the sector. The Commission report noted that burdensome administration procedures have hampered Malta’s business environment. Relatively


port costs and the necessarily infrequent ferry services to the rest of Europe (apart from the island of Sicily) are also impediments. One disappointment for Malta


high


has been the return of civil strife in Libya. The island has always been a staging post for this oſten turbulent country, and with the ousting of the Gadaffi regime in 2011, there had been some hopes that a measure of stability and economic prosperity would return. This has not been the case so far – but things can change rapidly in this part of the world.


Email: booking@xphmalta.com Tel: (+356) 2189 4130 - (+356) 2789 4145 XPH Malta Ltd. Malta International Airport, Cargo Village, Luqa LQA 3290, Malta.


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