Greece and Italy examine cooperation opportunities in sea cruise sector

Greece and Italy have a lot to gain in the shipping sector by evaluating opportunities arising, while the cooperation of the two countries will assess risk factors making the sector more competitive in the European Union, a meeting between representatives of Propeller Club from Italy and Greece said.

The meeting held at a special ceremony aboard the Knossos Palace ferry presented the growth models of the Greek and Italian shipping sectors. The Piraeus Propeller Club is a business network aiming to promote the shipping sextor through programs. Constasntinos Rokkos, regional vice-president Propeller Club South Europe and North Africa, in his address said that cargo ships, Ro-Ro ships and sea cruise ships offered the ground for cooperation between Greek and Italian shipowners. The two countries may be affected by geopolotical developments in the Middle East and Africa, however products will continue to be transported by sea as shipping transport continued to be of low cost compared with other transportation means and that is the main reason why 90 pct of global cargo was transported by sea, he said

He added that Italians play a leading role in sea cruise with 6.2 million passengers and 4,600 sea cruises, while they also specialize in shipbuilding of passenger ships and luxury yachts. Italians are among the top transporters of goods along with the Dutch and the British in the small distrance shipping in Europe, carrying 272 million tons of products or 12 pct of total European transport, while Greeks carry 100 million tons. However, Greeks and Cypriot recorded the biggest percentage increases in the last five years, with growth rate of 30 pct and 47 pct, respectively.

Rokkos said that Greek shipping was mainly funded by international banks (85 pct), while in Italy lending was mostly made by Italian banks (90 pct). Greece plays a leading role in the global shipping community, controlling 17 pct of global fleet, contributes 7.0 pct of the Greek GDP and employs around 300,000 workers, or 7.0 pct of the Greek workforce.

The Italian shipping sector contributes 32.6 billion euros to the Italian GDP, or 2.03 pct, employing around 2.0 pct of the workforce (480,000 workers).

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