Celebrating 40 years of diplomatic relations
Industry Reports by Synergy Media Specialists
Greece has long been a formidable maritime nation. The country's culture and mythology are intrinsically tied to the sea and shipping remains a key strength of the modern nation.
"We've always been a seafaring nation and our contributions to shipping are extremely important to the world," says George Gratsos, president of the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping.
The country's modern shipping industry started taking shape after the second world war when shipowners, such as Aristotle Onassis, purchased Liberty cargo ships from the United States to rebuild fleets destroyed during the war.
Today, Greece maintains the world's largest merchant fleet consisting of 3,185 vessels greater than 1,000 gross tonnage - well over 200 million dead-weight tonnes (dwt). This figure represents almost 15 per cent of the world dwt market.
Greek owners control about 22 per cent of the world's tanker fleet and 16 per cent of the world's bulk carrier fleet in terms of dwt.
At the end of 2010, the overall capital invested in new building orders by Greek shipowners amounted to 10 per cent of the entire global order book. These orders place Greece in the number one position internationally with 8.7 per cent of the world's fleet by units and 13.5 per cent by capacity.
