Over 2,610 new boats have been registered with the Small Ships Register at Transport Malta (TM) since 2013, statistics obtained by Lovin Malta show. This means there has been an increase of approximately 23% in the registrations in year 2017 when compared to year 2013.

The increase refers specifically to small ships registered as sea craft that measure less than 24 metres, and can only be used in the territorial waters of Malta.

While in all of 2013 there were 451 new boat registrations, there had already been 454 new registrations by mid-August of this year.

‘Malta is going to become like Italy’ – Maltese boat owner

Martin*, a Maltese boat owner of over 20 years, was concerned about what all these new boats meant for the traditional Maltese boat owners.

“It’s the new boat owners who are causing all of these messes – some of them don’t even know how to use a winch,” he said.

“Myself, I started on a 16-footer, I learned my way about it, and then I got a bigger boat. These new owners, they think they are captains already, they just buy a 28-footer and they don’t even know where the gas is,” he said.

“Transport Malta are making a mistake – they are letting everyone leave their boats wherever they want,” he said to Lovin Malta. “They put them in order and everything, but still everyone’s boats are crashing into each other.”

He believes Malta will soon become like Italy when it comes to owning a boat.

“It won’t be harder to enjoy one’s boat exactly – the problem is that TM and the government will figure out what’s happening, and there will soon be so many people who own boats that Malta will soon become like Italy,” he said.

“It will become harder to keep a boat, they will start raising the prices of the licenses, the prices of insurance, and the people who have always enjoyed and used boats, it will become more difficult for us – the people who never ever had any accidents in our lives, we will be the ones who suffer.”

*Names have been changed

What do you think of the rise in boats?

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Johnathan Cilia

Johnathan is an award-winning Maltese journalist interested in social justice, politics, minority issues, music and food. Follow him at @supreofficialmt on Instagram, and send him news, food and music stories at [email protected]