Greek coastal shipping industry rapidly sailing toward a duopoly

A new round of restructuring is under way in the Greek coastal shipping industry, with its catalyst being the tender by Piraeus Bank for the sale of a 40.44 percent stake in Hellenic Seaways (HSW) that belongs to the lender's portfolio.

Given the buying interest from Italian group Grimaldi, which already controls 48 percent of HSW and more than 94 percent of Minoan Lines, it appears that the future in the Aegean and Adriatic seas may have two instead of four major players - currently Attica Group (which owns Blue Star and Superfast Ferries), Minoan, HSW and ANEK.

Attica, in a joint project with ANEK, is active on Adriatic routes and those to Crete, and operates on its own in the Aegean, where HSW (which also operates in the Saronic Gulf) is its main competitor. Besides its cooperation with Attica, ANEK operates in the smaller markets of the southern Aegean via a...