Danske Rederier (Danish Shipping), one of the oldest and most influential Danish shipping organisations, has spoken out against a proposal to abolish tax benefits for Danish seafarers.
Specifically, according to the Danish Shipowners' Association, this concerns a regulation that was introduced with broad government support in 1988 in order to secure the future of the Danish seafaring tradition. One of the provisions is that Danish and foreign seafarers on Danish ships do not have to pay taxes on their wages.
An expert committee commissioned by the government had drawn up proposals and alternatives for reducing subsidies. One of these proposals, which is expected to save the government more than 276 million euros in direct subsidies, is the abolition of the Danish International Ship Register (DIS).
The association called the proposals a "disaster for the Danish shipping industry" and called on the government and parliament not to implement this proposal. This regulation would affect 748 ships with more than 100,000 employees in the maritime industry, including the 7500 Danish seafarers.
Graphic Danske Rederier
The scheme is a crucial part of the framework that enables Danish shipping companies to operate their ships under the Danish flag, employ Danish seafarers and at the same time be competitive on the world market, especially against countries such as Norway, Germany and Singapore. The abolition of the DIS regime will lead to a significant outflagging of Danish ships to neighbouring countries and other maritime nations around the world and Denmark will lose its place among the top ten shipping nations.
The association also predicts that Danish seafarers will continue to sail under the flag of a neighbouring country in the short term. In the longer term, however, there will be fewer and fewer Danish seafarers until they "die out" completely.
This would not only jeopardise the Danish maritime industry, but also undermine Denmark's role, for example in setting the agenda for ambitious global maritime climate targets.
Germany is also discussing the reduction of tax benefits for German shipowners, but that's another story...
Source: The Maritime Executive
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