Shipping and Island Policy Minister Yiannis Plakiotakis announced plans on Tuesday for the creation of a state-supervised fund to transform Greece’s coastal shipping fleet “green”.
Global Leader
He stressed that the Greek government not only resisted in this unstable environment but managed to attract global giants to the country, and he underlined that the shipping industry remained a leader on a global and European level. George Pateras, president of the Chamber, said he expected positive results in 2023 over the renewal of the coastal shipping fleet.
This comes as pressure mounts on shipping to deliver more concrete action to cut emissions. Haralambos J Fafalios, the GSCC chairman said: “We are still awaiting engine and shipbuilders to come up with real green solutions.” The industry has been testing a number of cleaner fuel options including ammonia and methanol as well as trialing wind sails in an effort to look for new solutions away from dirtier bunker fuel. Fafalios said many companies, whether in shipping or commodity traders, “are touting the strengths of their favorite fuels, but none so far has a real green footprint on a well-to-wake basis”.
Green Solutions
The GSCC chairman said the industry is “still awaiting engine and shipbuilders to come up with real green solutions’ ‘. “However, it is very important to stress that we support the IMO exclusively and not the many regional markets because we need global solutions and not regional efforts. Otherwise, we will never succeed in truly decarbonising shipping as opposed to filling up coffers,” said Fafalios.
Addressing the first in-person Vasilopita cutting in three years, as “the words pandemic, war and inflation suddenly entered our daily vocabulary”. He said: “All of a sudden, commodity prices rose briskly, supply routes changed and trade patterns have altered to a degree that we would not have envisaged.” The Hellenic Coast Guard must remain one of the backbones of the Greek maritime system and keep its many foreign outposts. “We still feel Greece should have a greater voice in EU maritime affairs and greater representation at the IMO,” he said.
Did you subscribe to our newsletter?
It’s free! Click here to subscribe!
Source: Greekcitytimes
