The study "The Unseen Flag" examines 4,984 port calls and raises the need to identify which vessels and crews would be available to guarantee maritime connections to the islands in the event of a crisis.
DID YOU LIKE THIS CONTENT? WELL... YOU HAVE ALL OF OUR FULL PROGRAMS HERE!Approximately 70% of the ship calls arriving in Palma from mainland Spain analysed in the study "The Unseen Flag" were made by vessels sailing under flags other than Spain's. The research, conducted by Ignacio Galiano Pomar, a Mallorcan merchant navy captain with a PhD in Nautical Science and Maritime Transport, examines 4,984 port calls recorded between January 1st, 2025 and September 22nd, 2026, and raises questions about the maritime transport sector's actual capacity to respond to emergencies affecting connections between Mallorca and the mainland.
According to the data collected, 45% of the port calls were made by Cyprus-flagged vessels, 30% by Spanish-flagged vessels, 23% by Italian-flagged vessels and 2% by Maltese-flagged vessels. Finland also appears, although its presence is minimal. These percentages refer to the port calls analysed, not to the volume of goods or passengers transported.
Galiano's study is based on a fundamental distinction: the nationality of a shipping company does not necessarily match the flag under which its vessels operate. A Spanish company may operate ships registered in another country, just as a foreign company may provide services using Spanish-flagged vessels. This structure is part of how the European maritime market operates. The main foreign flags identified belong to European Union member states, meaning the study does not consider their presence, in itself, to be an anomaly or a weakness. Instead, it examines how this organisational structure translates into operational response capacity when normal conditions change. A prolonged disruption of shipping routes, an energy crisis or a serious breakdown in supply chains could require additional maritime connections to maintain supplies and mobility across island territories. Ensuring these services involves more than simply having vessels available.
In the Balearic Islands, maritime connections are essential for transporting goods, vehicles and passengers and sustaining economic activity. For this reason, the analysis proposes assessing vessel availability alongside the resources required to operate them, including fuel, maintenance, insurance, port infrastructure and qualified personnel. The document also examines the role of planning and emergency response mechanisms in exceptional circumstances. Its central argument is that the legal or physical availability of a vessel does not, on its own, guarantee that it can be brought into service immediately.
The human factor plays a central role in the study's conclusions. Captains, deck officers and marine engineering officers require specific qualifications, certifications and experience. Their training takes years, limiting the possibility of rapidly expanding operational capacity in an emergency. The study therefore raises an important question that remains unanswered: how many vessels could actually be deployed if maritime connections to the islands needed to be reinforced, and how many qualified professionals would be available to crew them? The research does not quantify this pool of maritime professionals, nor does it establish that there is a shortage of crews. Determining this would require detailed information about each vessel's crew requirements, rotations, rest periods, and the availability and qualifications of seafarers.
Across six chapters, "The Unseen Flag" proposes incorporating these factors into the debate on maritime transport and island planning. Its findings provide a snapshot of the maritime connections analysed in Palma, without automatically extending the conclusions to the Balearic Islands as a whole or to the rest of Spain.
