Greek Shipping Dominates World Despite COVID-19 Pandemic

Despite the Coronavirus crisis that has affected the entire world and the maritime community, Greek ship owners controlled 20.67 percent of global shipping capacity and 54.28 percent of the EU tonnage, according to 2019 data.

This news comes from the annual report by the Union of Greek Shipowners (EEE), presented by EEE President Theodoros Veniamis. The report highlights that in the period from 2007 to 2019 Greek shipowners more than doubled the shipping capacity of their fleet.

In addition to growing their fleet, Greek shipowners lowered the age of their fleet to an average of 9.17 years, well below the mean age of the global fleet (9.61 years).

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for the shipping sector, a fact that was clearly reinforced throughout the annual report.

“It is absolutely clear that shipping was also inevitably hit by the global economic and trade shock due to the pandemic, resulting in a major drop in the freight market, where for some categories of ships there was a sharp drop in fares and almost zero demand for transport services,” Veniamis notes.

Since the shipping sector is essential to providing basic goods to society, Veniamis argues that the role of shipping requires international recognition and support from authorities.

“The international community must ensure the smooth movement of seafarers around the world, with a view primarily to their health and well-being, which has a direct impact on the safety of ships and navigation,” he claims.

Veniamis emphasized that “within [Greek’s] national borders, the challenge, but also the vision, of Greek shipping remains the immediate strengthening of the competitiveness of the Greek register, in order to stop the leakage of ships from the flag, before the situation becomes irreversible, as well as the revival of the seamanship of our people.”

For 2019, Greek shipping data fell into the top five along with China, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong