Ship Managers Contribute Largest Amount in 2 Years to Cyprus GDP

(Bloomberg) — Cyprus’s ship-management companies contributed more to the island’s gross domestic product in the first half of 2012 than they had for two years, the Central Bank of Cyprus said.

Revenue from ship-management, which includes finding rental contracts and crews for vessels, rose by 2 percent to 435 million euros ($563 million), or 5 percent of GDP, from 428 million euros at the end of 2011, the central bank said in a statement today on its website.

Cyprus, the European Union’s biggest ship-management center, became in June the fourth euro-area nation to request a financial rescue since Greece’s 2010 bailout. The rescue will encompass banks weakened by exposure to the Greek economy as well as the public sector. The Cypriot economy will shrink 2.4 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2013, according to the 2013 budget, released on Nov. 22.

German shipowners accounted for 55 percent of ship managers’ revenue, down from 60 percent at the end of 2011; Swiss-owned shipping companies contributed 11 percent, up from 8 percent, and Vietnamese owners 6 percent, unchanged from the end of last year.