Originally established as the Mediterranean hub for the corsairs, its natural harbours, and the entrepreneurial and maritime skills of its people have all contributed to establishing Malta as an international maritime service centre. Malta's geographical location in the heart of the Mediterranean, about 100 kilometres south of Sicily and 300 kilometres east of Tunis, has always been a major attraction to the world's maritime powers.

The Malta flag today has the largest fleet in Europe, the seventh largest worldwide, and Clarkson's World Fleet Monitor, as at 12th January 2010, indicates a 15.7% growth of Malta's fleet in 2009. The development of the Malta flag has been as a flag of choice and quality, with no restrictions as to nationality of corporate owners, nor on the nationality of shareholders and directors of Maltese shipping companies. Today it is a flag of confidence with a serious and efficient maritime administration that is extremely active on international shipping for a which boasts of a consistently low detention record in terms of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control.

Recently launched, Malta offers a robust, attractive proposition for the registration of aircraft in Malta and the establishment of aviation related operations including aircraft leasing companies. The benefits cannot simply be measured in terms of the tax treatment, which is beneficial, but heed must be paid to the multi-tradition legal system which has developed in Malta and which today benefits from several hundred years of case-law.