Ships: Greek shipping at the top of the world

Despite all the difficulties the world economy has to face and given the fact that shipping is the real backbone of world trade and supply chains, as 90% of all goods are transported by sea, Greek shipping maintains its role in the industry, currently representing 21% of the global fleet and 59% of the European fleet, while the inflows into the Greek balance of payments from maritime transport are now the highest recorded since 2008 and amount to more than 17 billion euros.

What do Greek shipowners control?

Greek shipowners with 5,514 ships control 32% of tankers, 25% of bulk carriers and 22% of the fleet of liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships worldwide, with the latter category being considered strategically important in the independence of the Russian gas.

At the end of 2021, according to the assessment of VesselsValue, the value of the Greek-owned fleet was around 145.887 billion dollars, ranking 3rd in the world after the Chinese fleet (worth 191,253 billion dollars) and the Japanese fleet (187,674 billion dollars).

New ship constructions

The trends, prospects and risks of the shipping market occupied a recent shipping investment conference of Capital Link in Athens, with the views of industry executives outlining the medium-term landscape of the shipping industry.

"The extended re-investment period starting in 2016, can result in an unexpectedly positive course in the decade we are going through. There will be a recovery in new shipbuilding over the next two years, although steel prices have risen. The problem is that the available "green" solutions for shipping do not seem attractive so far. With the exception of some Japanese shipyards, capacity is limited. Demand for dry bulk carriers is projected to increase by 38% by...