Spyridon Paschalis: A new decade: The challenges ahead
ATTICA GROUP
I will not refer to facts such as that Attica Group is the biggest ferry operator in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, that is the 8th largest ferry company in Europe, that we operate a fleet of 32 vessels and that we are the largest employer of Greek seafarers. Nor will I recall the hard times of Greece’s last economic recession during which Attica Group coped with difficult conditions but managed to arise bigger and stronger.
I will certainly though speak about how we are preparing for the Day After. Preparing for the changes that we find essential to occur to systemic companies like Attica Group, so that we can continue providing high quality and reliable transportation services for passengers and cargo, supporting the local island communities’ economies and therefore, supporting Greece’s most “heart beating” sector of the economy, the tourism industry.
The Day After is strongly associated with the need for further growth, in order to ensure territorial continuity, sustainability and social cohesion, assuring that even the most remote island is connected with the mainland for the years to come. In order to achieve all above goals, investments in modern, environmentally friendly, tailor-made for each specific route vessels are required, which will become the key transportation means to support Greece’s infrastructure and mark a growth lever for thousands of island based, and not only, businesses.
The Day After of the maritime industry requires strong financing initiatives, long-term planning, determination and solid commitments from all parties involved, including the State.
The Day After for Attica Group is associated with three decades of consistent and stable vision, our mission and corporate values. Attica Group is a Greek Shipping Group providing high quality transportation services for passengers, trucks and private vehicles with modern and technologically advanced vessels. Guided by the values of quality, innovation, reliability, transparency, integrity and responsibility, we have invested from the beginning of our operations over €1.8 billion in newbuilding vessels. More than 25 newbuilding vessels were ordered, delivered and operated in the Greek seas, sailing always under the Greek flag.
We provide a travel network to 60 unique destinations, connecting 71 ports, both in the Greek domestic market and on the international waters (Greece – Italy and Morocco – Spain). Attica Groups’ brands, Superfast Ferries, Blue Star Ferries, Africa Morocco Link) and the newly acquired Hellenic Seaways have become synonyms to high-end quality ferry services for the European maritime transport industry.
The challenges of the current decade require our full focus in order to:
• Achieve Organic Growth through expansion to new Markets and/or Sectors related to our existing services, such as the operation of Port Terminal facilities.
• Improve our Product through Investments in Newbuildings, Innovation & Environmental enhancements, in order to fully comply with the updated customer needs, as well as to the need of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, ensuring long-term viability.
• Enhance and Personalize our Customer Experience offering through the digital upgrade of the travel services we offer.
• Further Digitalize at all levels and Adopt Data driven decisions so that we can fully move to the new era of decision making based on big data analysis in order to optimize the operational performance.
The current Covid-19 pandemic crisis is definitely particularly hard for all companies operating in the transport and tourism industry. But in Attica Group, stirred by our strong experience and size, we keep targeting to Group’s sustainable development that will steadily enable us to offer more than what we promise, contributing to Greece’s future development.
