Mr Vassallo is a career civil servant, since 1973 involved in shipping on both the official and the industry side. He has served in various positions within Malta’s maritime administration, noticeably as member and accounting officer of the board monitoring the building of a new container port, Deputy Head at the Ministry responsible for maritime affairs, for eighteen years on the Board of Members of the Malta Maritime Authority and meanwhile, for nineteen years as Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen and later, ex officio member of the Maritime Law Advisory Council.

Since 1977 Mr Vassallo has represented Malta at a number of international conferences, particularly at IMO meetings where since 1987 he was de facto Malta’s representative to the Organisation; in 2005 he was formally appointed Malta’s first Permanent Representative to IMO. For thirteen years he was the first Chairman of the Mediterranean Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control and between 2004 and 2011 member of the Administrative Board of the European Maritime Safety Agency. Between 2011 and 2013 he served on the Board of Members of the Authority for Transport in Malta where he chaired the Civil Aviation Supervisory Committee.

Currently Mr Vassallo is Malta’s Permanent Representative to IMO representing Malta not only at IMO but also at IMSO and occasionally IOPC meetings. In April 2011 he was appointed to the Board of Governors of the IMO International Maritime Law Institute. Since 2011 Mr Vassallo is also the General Secretary of the Malta International Shipowners Association and Alternate Member of the Board of Directors of the European Community Shipowners’ Associations.

For these last five Mr Vassallo has been involved with the Maritime Transport Agency of Georgia in the setting up of the International Georgia Maritime Forum.

Mr Vassallo is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and Honorary Member of the Malta Maritime Law Association. In 2009 he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa by the IMO International Maritime Law Institute.