Greeks add 90 million tons to fleet in 7 years

The soaring of the Greek-owned merchant fleet’s numbers since 2010 confirms that the nation is consolidating its position at the top of the global shipping industry. Data presented by Clarksons Platou, the world’s biggest shipbrokers, show that in the last seven years Greeks have acquired ships adding up to 89.3 million gross tonnage out of a total addition of 391 million gt to the global fleet.

Greeks’ contribution of 23 percent to the expansion of the world’s fleet has brought with it growth of 74 percent for the Greek-owned fleet in the last seven years. This illustrates that Greek shipowners took advantage of the global financial crisis to renew and strengthen their fleet, making the most of their strong cash flow and the low prices of ships.

According to the database of the Greek Shipping Cooperation Committee in London, which relied on IHS Markit figures, Greek-owned ships with a capacity of more than 1,000 gt each numbered 4,085 on March 1, 2017, with a total capacity of 192.43 million gt. This represents a drop of seven vessels from last year, but also an annual capacity increase of 3.5 million gt. That includes 196 ships with a capacity of 20.6 million gt that are under construction.