There is far more to Gibraltar’s maritime sector than bunkering and cruising, the mainstays of the port’s business.

While those two sectors are admittedly the most prominent and visible, the Rock offers a broad range of services to shipowners whose vessels are transiting the Strait of Gibraltar.

From crew changes to the provision of food, charts and spares, virtually anything a ship or its crew might need is either already available here, or can be brought in at short notice.

And away from the physical activities of the port and the ship repair yard, Gibraltar’s legal community has long been active in various aspects of admiralty law.

Underpinning much of that business is Gibraltar’s ship register, a Category 1 member of the British Red Ensign group, one of the most prestigious flags in the world.

The register currently has 200 vessels representing 1.2 million deadweight tonnes on its books.

This year the Gibraltar flag obtained the coveted White List status within the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control, the intergovernmental body that checks vessel safety and the quality of ship registers in Europe and Canada.