By L. Karageorgos
Greek shipping remains atop the international rankings in early 2018, based on gross tonnage, according to calculations by Vesselsvlaue.com conducted for “N”. Specifically, Greek shipping is the global leader in terms of bulkers and tankers, second in the LNG category, third in terms of containers and fourth on the relevant list of LPG carriers.
The figures come days before the annual general assembly of the Greek Union of Shipowners (EEE) on Thursday, where the group’s president, Theodoros Veniamis, is expected to detail the shipping sector’s positions on a variety of issues, especially on the course of negotiations with the EU Commission over the tax regime governing maritime shipping in the Union.
Greek shipowners and executives will also be briefed on a “voluntary tax contribution” scheme agreed to with the recession-battered Greek state.
According to Vesselsvalue.com, the Greek-controlled fleet numbers 4,624 vessels, with a total tonnage of 218.82 million gt and with an ascribed value of 99.589 billion USD.
In a related development, shipping-related remittances in Greece’s balance of payments reached 136 billion euros over the 2007-2016 period. The flow of shipping remittances to the country was severely hampered in 2016 due to capital controls imposed in late June 2015, a trend that was reversed in 2017.
Over the Jan-Nov 2017 period, remittances from shipping transports, as released by the Bank of Greece (BoG), reached 8.332 billion euros, up from 7.087 billion euros in the corresponding period of 2016.
