2014 Was a Challenge for Danish Maritime Authority

 

The 2014 annual report of the Danish Maritime Authority has been published. A record increase in the tonnage registered in Denmark, Danish Maritime Days and the adoption of the Polar Code are some of the important results in the previous year.

Once again, the gross tonnage registered in the Danish Registers of Shipping beat a record with a gross tonnage of 14.9 million in 2014 compared to just below 13 million in 2013. Thus, the Danish merchant fleet is larger than ever.

This is evident from the annual report of the Danish Maritime Authority, which has just been published on www.dma.dk.

"It is very positive that the Danish merchant fleet has increased markedly – despite the continued challenges faced by the shipping industry. This indicates that the steady efforts made with the Government's Plan for Growth in Blue Denmark have had an impact. Denmark has a strong maritime cluster that is doing well in international competition, and this is a position of strength which it has been the purpose of the Plan for Growth to support in 2014. And the work will continue in 2015", says Director General of the Danish Maritime Authority Andreas Nordseth.

Important milestones

Danish Maritime Days and Danish Maritime Forum were held in October 2014, when more than 200 top-level representatives from 37 countries visited Denmark to debate the future possibilities and challenges of the maritime industry. At the same time, more than 50 maritime events were held all around Denmark in the course of the five days that Danish Maritime Days lasted.

Legal amendments to the pilotage area, opening up for competition and intended to make more ships take a pilot along longer stretches, were adopted by the Danish Parliament on 11 June 2014 and will lead to modernisation of the pilotage market.

The technical part of the Polar Code was adopted by United Nations' International Maritime Organization (IMO) in the autumn of 2014. The Polar Code is an international set of regulations intended to enhance safety of navigation in polar waters.

In 2014, the Danish Maritime Authority focused on reducing the time the Authority spends considering cases. Good framework conditions combined with reliable operation that focuses on offering seafarers and the industry good service are important elements when it comes to making it attractive to fly the Danish flag.

As regards safety, 2014 was a satisfactory year measured in terms of the number of detentions of Danish ships in foreign ports. On the other hand, defects and non-conformities were found on more Danish ships than previously in the Tokyo MoU, just as several years' decrease in the rate of serious occupational accidents at sea was not continued in 2014. These are important areas on which the Danish Maritime Authority will focus more efforts in 2015.

As regards the economy, the accounting year closed with a minor surplus of DKK 1.7 million. The overall score in the Danish Maritime Authority's performance contract for 2014 was 90.75 out of 100, which is considered a good result.