Revenue from Cyprus’ ship management industry declined by 3.85% in the first half of this year, marking its first contraction after four consecutive semesters amid the slowdown of the global economy and high inflation.

According to the ship management survey carried out by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC), ship management revenues in the first half of 2023 declined to €623 million from €648 million in the second half of last year.

Compared with the first half of last year the industry’s revenues marked an increase of almost 9%. As a percentage of Cyprus’ six-months GDP, ship management revenue amounted to 4.5%.

The distribution of revenue per country of origin shows the globalised nature of the island’s ship management industry. Germany maintained its top position with 40% of the revenues marginally down from 41% in the second half of 2022.

Greece ranked second with 17%, while Switzerland doubled its share to 10% in the first half of this year from 5% in the second half of 2022.

Full ship management services attracted 48.6% of the revenue with crew management following with 47.6% of the total revenue, whereas technical management attracted 3.8%, the survey said.

According to the CBC, the ship management industry’s expenditure in the first half of 2023 declined by almost 4% to 604 million, stopping a rising trend that began in the first half of 2021, mainly driven by rising fuel prices. Compared with the first half of 2022, the industry’s spending rose by 13.5%.