By Paris Tsirigotis 

 

An important opportunity for our country and the Greek economy in 2024 is the rebirth of the shipping and para-shipping cluster centered on the port of Piraeus.

 

Despite the intense geopolitical developments, already a number of important synergies between companies of marine equipment, products and services create the basic conditions for the strengthening of the cluster by the strongest shipping in the world.

 

An important role in this is expected to be played by the reactivation of the largest shipyards in our country: Neorio, Elefsina and Skaramangas.

 

Executives of the shipping market point out to Naftemporiki that the strengthening of healthy entrepreneurship with a stable favorable institutional framework, the reduction of bureaucracy, the attraction of ships to the Greek flag, but also young people in the maritime professions, are the basic condition for the regeneration and expansion of shipping center.

 

They point out that the transformation of shipping towards the green transition will also require a mix of significant partnerships and initiatives between private and public services, as well as new skills.

 

The Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Christos Stylianidis, referring to the matter recently, said that the management of most Greek-owned ships requires a strong shipping cluster, underlining that Piraeus has been systematically chosen by the management companies in recent years, since it has evolved into an innovation center for shipping.

 

Digital register

 

Among the priorities of the Ministry of Shipping through the new data created for the next period is the digitization of the register, but also the creation of a new strong institutional framework for the upgrading of maritime education in Greece, with the aim of attracting more young people to the maritime profession.

 

The shipping companies located in Greece, mainly in Piraeus, exceed 1,570, while more than 3,600 shipping companies operate for the management of smaller ships, providing direct employment to approximately 10,000 workers, who are employed by classification societies, financial institutions, legal offices , financial consulting companies, marine insurance companies, etc.

 

Recently, Dr. Nikos Tsakos, founder and CEO of Tsakos Energy Navigation, speaking on an American television network, emphasized that shipping is an international industry and Greece has great know-how and is rightly called the Silicon Valley of Shipping.

 

He pointed out that Greece may be a small country of 11 million inhabitants, but Greek shipowners control, depending on the type of ships, between 20% and 25% of the world's tonnage.

 

Renaissance of shipyards

 

On the occasion of the renaissance of the shipyards in Greece, the president of EBEP Vassilis Korkidis pointed out that the Greek companies of the cluster should claim a piece of the pie that was created.

 

"It has been calculated that the Greek shipyards can increase Greek exports in ship equipment by 1.35 billion euros in the first year of their reopening, while the renewal of the coastal fleet, until 2030, will require investments of more than 4.5 billion euros, a large part of which should be done in Greek shipyards," he added.

 

It should be noted that a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoU) worth 1 billion euros was recently signed between ONEX SA (owner of the Neorio and Elefsina Shipyards) and the Attica Group, lasting ten years, with the possibility of extension.

 

The memorandum provides for the exclusive carrying out of the maintenance, retrofitting, repair and environmental upgrading of the existing ships of the Attica Group at the shipyards, as well as the possibility of building new modern ships.

 

In the top ten in the world

 

It is noted that the port of Piraeus is among the top 10 ports worldwide in the 2023 shipping index, as it has occupied the 8th position internationally in the Xinhua-Baltic Shipping Centers Index (ISCD).

 

The top spot was secured by Singapore as the world's leading shipping hub, while the island nation was followed by London and Shanghai.

 

The report is jointly published by China's state news agency Xinhua and global maritime data provider Baltic Exchange.