“Hellenic Shipping shows signs of resistance”
The President of the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS) during the press conference to Greek and foreign journalists on the occasion of Posidonia Exhibition 2010 noted, inter alia, the following:
1.Greek-owned shipping is continuing its efforts to maintain its leadership position over two decades in international maritime transport. This task takes place in an exceptionally volatile environment characterized by instability in the global economy as well as increased unpredictability in freight markets hampering even short term business planning.
2.Domestically, since the end of 2009, Greece is going through a most testing period on the way to drastic structural changes of its economy. Greek shipping is holding up better than expected vis-à-vis international and domestic challenges and is the only sector of production and services which did not contribute to unemployment at national level. On the contrary, it faces a scarcity of officers on board vessels and can therefore offer Greek youngsters employment opportunities with high career prospects.
3.The UGS campaign for the attraction of youngsters to the seafarers profession, more systematic in recent years, is bearing fruit justifying optimism that a significant part of the existing lack of officers will be filled up in the future. The UGS is also pursuing the objective of upgrading national maritime education, especially regarding the standards of teachers and the modernization of the necessary infrastructure.
4.Apart from the dire economic situation due to the international recession, shipping suffered from the resurgence of the medieval scourge of piracy: A problem which severely disrupts the operation of maritime trade, challenges civil order and society in our times and demands close and more effective co-operation and initiatives by the international community, if it is to be eradicated.
5.Greek shipping operates in the international arena under conditions of acute competition. Many of its competitors enjoy substantial advantages in terms of government support, access to cheaper financing and labour or more flexible application of international standards. The same challenges are also faced by our European partners. The EU, fully recognizing the problem and the need to protect the worldwide competitiveness of its fleet, pursues as one of its priorities in the recent Communication on EU maritime transport policy until 2018 the safeguarding of an international level playing field.
6.The Greek shipping community, proving de facto its sensitivity for the protection of the marine environment, is instrumental in establishing a framework of realistic rules of international application and implementation under the IMO auspices. Such a regulatory framework will safeguard the necessary balance between protection of the environment and the unhindered operation of world maritime trade, bearing in mind that the activities of ships extend beyond geographical limits as well as national or regional political expediencies.
7.The UGS President expressed his belief that Greek-owned shipping will maintain its leading position internationally not only due to the size of its high-tech modern fleet but also due to the longstanding experience of providing high quality transportation services to international trade in ever changing circumstances.
Source: Posidonia Exhibitions