News

Focus on maritime business is the main point of attention in this year’s traditional business forum organized by Klaipeda Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Crafts. In this context, the issues, opportunities and perspectives of the Lithuanian maritime sector are particularly important. President of Limarko Group Vytautas Lygnugaris was invited to share his insights with the forum participants.

 There are currently 102 ships in the Lithuanian Ships Register.

 About 2 thousand people are employed in the Lithuanian shipping sector.

 Lithuania generates about 140 million euro of GDP in the maritime shipping sector and about 225 million euro of GDP in shipping-related sectors.

 These are just a few facts illustrating the situation of the Lithuanian shipping business, emphasized in his report by V. Lygnugaris. According to him, the Lithuanian shipping business has to face the competition with Southeast Asia, the Far East, the USA, Russia, India and other continents.

 “The Lithuanian fleet, being an integral part of the European Union fleet, faces not only global international, but also internal competition within the European Union itself. It is therefore very important to understand what place Lithuania occupies in this global market and how we position ourselves”, emphasized the President of the Limarko Group in the report.

 In the conditions of global competition, Lithuania is saved by the reliefs applied to the shipping companies of the European Union. Seafarers working on board ships of European Union country are exempted from personal income tax. Lithuanian shipping companies also have the opportunity to pay a fixed profit tax, the so-called tonnage tax.

 In his report, V. Lygnugaris also reviewed the trends of air pollution from ships, the topical issues of maritime documentation management, and the problems of ship acquisition and registration.

You can find the report on: youtube.com/watch?v=Dt63pgIZ17M