Tag: Greece

Malta-flag cargo ship runs aground off Andros

'Greece Dept Free' Peter Nomikos has time and money to follow his passions. Based in London, he dabbles in investing, sponsors art museums and runs a winery and beer brand on his home island of Santorini.Shipping heir Peter Nomikos wants his fellow Greeks to donate money to help wipe out the country's debt.Last month, the Princeton University graduate launched a nonprofit that will use donations to buy Greek government debt on the cheap. The charity, called Greece Debt Free, proposes to then forgive the debt, helping to wipe clean the nation's slate."I want to help my country," he says. "Crisis is the strongest national call to action, and therefore is the most powerful, unifying mechanism for change."It is a herculean-some would say Sisyphean-task.Greece had 280 billion ($351 billion) in debt as of March 31. But much of that debt is trading between 10 and 20 cents on the euro. With an estimated 16 million people who identify as Greek around the world, Mr. Nomikos figures it would take about "a grand a Greek"-or 1,000 per head-to materially reduce the nation's debtload.His take so far: 273,000, a mere rounding error in terms of the total debt-and most of that amount came ...

EST acquired ISO 50001:2011 and EBEN Gold Bee Enterprises Shipping and Trading S.A. hosted a reception at the Athens Golf Club on the 5th June 2012 in light of the Posidonia Exhibition, to celebrate two major achievements: ISO 50001:2011 and EBEN Gold Bee.The ISO 50001 Certificate was handed over to Mr. Victor Restis by Mr. B. Anne, VP of Bureau Veritas, congratulating him for the accomplishment of such a demanding task. This certificate verifies EST's commitment to continuously improve its energy efficiency, while it is the 1st awarded by BV in Greece.In his speech, Mr. Restis thanked all the employees both ashore and onboard the 91 ships managed by Enterprises for their contribution and loyalty. None of this would be possible, he said, without the support of our people stationed all over the world and their families.ISO 50001 is a voluntary international standard requiring an energy management system, an action plan to measure and manage the energy usages, a baseline to set targets, programs and practical measures to ensureenergy conservation.In addition to the above, EST is the first company to obtain the "Gold Bee-State of Honesty Award" in six criteria. The European Business Ethics Network Greece (EBEN GR) presented EST ...

During Posidonia 2012 The policies and strategy of Greek shipping will not be impacted by the outcome of the upcoming elections and, in spite of the challenges facing the country, the sector's prospects are secure and commitment to Greece a given, said Theodore Veniamis, Chairman of the Union of Greek Shipowners, during the traditional UGS press conference of Posidonia, the world's biggest shipping event held biennially in Greece."We want a competitive Greek shipping industry underpinned by a strong Greek flag which promotes the country's interests. We want to have more Greek seafarers in our fleets and this has been one of the perennial issues which have been facing Greek shipowners since 1932," said Veniamis."Why are we not in the position to allow private initiatives to develop educational shipping institutions in order to increase the number of students and seafarers for the Greek ships in a country which is famous the world over for its seamanship and long maritime tradition?", he wondered."Today we are here at Posidonia where more than 1,800 companies from 87 countries have come because they respect Greece's leadership in the shipping industry. Heads of state, ministers, decision-makers of major corporations are here because of our long marine ...

At the press conference in the venue of the Posidonia International Exhibition, on Friday 8th June, the UGS President, Mr. T. Veniamis, stated the following:Greek shipping endures and makes progress. Despite the deep financial crisis of the entire planet and especially Greece, Greek shipping remains at the top of the international league, closely connected with its national basis, with a fleet of 3,325 vessels, a total tonnage of 227 million dwt and average age of 10,5 years."You may know," Mr. Veniamis stated, "that my compatriot shipowners on my island, Chios, used to say that the sea gets sick but never dies. We fully share this belief and we try to follow their task. Of course, the overall environment has changed. The circumstances at sea are completely different today, compared to past years. Sometimes they may be better but in many cases, they are adverse and complicated, demanding faith, strength and hard effort. Globalization and its side-effects, the galloping development of marine technology, the exaggerated and not always disinterested measures at central and regional level, disturbing the smooth operation of vessels, the financial and lending illiquidity, the effects of the economic crisis on the freight market but also the scourge of ...

Issues on the international MEPA agenda Against the backdrop of Posidonia 2012, members of the INTERMEPA Steering Committee (SC) met on Thursday 7 June in Athens, Greece over a working lunch to discuss important issues on the international MEPA agenda.Member MEPAs represented were from AUSMEPA (Australia), CYMEPA (Cyprus), HELMEPA (Greece), NAMEPA (U.S.A.), and TURMEPA (Turkey). Addressing the SC on behalf of outgoing Chairman, Mr Yaramanci of TURMEPA, Mr Jonathan Beard (TURMEPA Treasurer) commented on the efforts of the Chairmanship during their 2-year tenure, suggesting certain items to be considered in the future.Following, the new INTERMEPA Chairman and Vice Chairman were elected. Mr. George Tsavliris, CYMEPA´s President and Capt. Conrad Saldanha, AUSMEPA´s Chairman, who was represented at the meeting by AUSMEPA´s Vice Chairman Warwick Norman, assumed the positions respectively.Speaking to the committee for the first time as Chairman, Mr. Tsavliris expressed his conviction that the most effective catalyst for the important work of INTERMEPA is the continued synergy between member MEPAs. He continued in stressing that it is through encouragement rather than inducement that this can be achieved.Deliberations centered around the proliferation of the voluntary MEPA spirit to other countries. Current cooperative initiatives were evaluated together with the potential to further ...

GL at Posidonia 2012 Allseas Marine S.A. was presented with Maritime Labour Statements of Compliance by Germanischer Lloyd (GL) for the vessels "Calm Seas", "Kind Seas" and "Pearl Seas". The certificates were presented to Michael Bodouroglou, Managing Director of the Allseas Marine by Oliver Darley, Vice President and Global Head of Systems Certification at GL and Athanasios Reisopoulos, Vice President, GL Area Office Southern Europe, at GL's booth at the Posidonia 2012 exhibition in Greece. Through the presentation of these certificates GL's confirms that the working and living conditions of the crew on these cargo ships meet the requirements of the incoming Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC 2006).GL carried out inspections on board the three vessels between March and May 2012, the "Declaration of Maritime Labour Compliance" (DMLC) was also checked by Germanischer Lloyd. During the survey, GL inspectors made sure that all required documents were present on board, interviewed crew members, and examined the accommodations areas, galley, store rooms and medical care facilities of the individual vessels."Obtaining a Statement of Compliance in advance of the entry into force of the MLC, 2006 reflects the commitment of Allseas to ensuring that the seafarers working on board their vessels enjoy decent ...

But serious obstacles could threaten future growth, says European Cruise Council Senior representatives of the European Cruise Council (ECC) told the Posidonia Forum, meeting in Athens today, that the growth of the cruise sector in Greece is being maintained, despite the difficult economic climate. ECC Chairman, Manfredi Lefebvre D'Ovidio and Chairman of the ECC Port Sub-Committee, Neil Palomba, both warned of significant potential obstacles and challenges that could seriously threaten the steady growth of the sector, but added that incentives could help the cruise industry play a key role in the economic recovery of the country.The ECC Chairman told the Forum that Greece is "a key cruise destination in Europe", with some 4.7 million passengers arriving at Greek ports, 17% of the total European market, ranking third in Europe, only behind Italy and Spain. Passenger expenditure in Greece is some 470 million and direct cruise industry expenditure - passenger and cruise purchases, shipbuilding, employee compensation, cruise line purchases amounts to 14 billion across Europe, and close to 600mn in Greece.ECC Chairman, Manfredi Lefebvre D'Ovidio said: "These impressive figures clearly show the social and economic importance of the cruise sector both to Europe generally and to Greece in particular. However, there ...

Greece's economy may be on its knees, but as evidenced in Athens at the world's biggest maritime trade fair this week, the global titans that are its shipping magnates are still standing tall -- for now."Shipping is an international industry," said Theodore Vokos, organiser of the biennial Posidonia fair, an event in its fifth decade this year bringing together a record 1,870 exhibitors from 87 countries, many from Asia."Therefore the good thing for Greek shipping is that it is not affected by the Greek crisis," he said.Greece is in its fifth year of recession, unemployment is 20 percent, its debts are so high and its credibility among investors so low that it has had to be bailed out twice. It may leave the eurozone after elections later this month.But the country's shipping industry is still second to none, with Greek firms controlling 16.2 percent of the world's "deadweight tonnage" shipping capacity, followed by Japan with 15.8 percent, a United Nations report for 2011 showed.Owners from Germany, Japan and China possess more actual ships, but in terms of nationally flagged and nationally owned tonnage, Greece's 3,200-strong fleet continues to be "by far" the world's largest, the UN says.For Greece, the industry ...

Posidonia 2012 , 4-8 June, Greece As persistent high oil prices and the burden of increased regulatory compliance have rendered energy management strategy development crucial for fleet owners worldwide, the shipping industry is on the verge of a new frontier where novel concepts and sophisticated approaches to ship design and performance verification methods emerge.The world's major ship building nations agree that a combination of a stubborn global recession and high fuel prices which affect global trade and impact newbuilding orders require innovative thinking, creative strategies and investments in R&D to create the foundations for a new generation of shipping infrastructure which will be more resilient to fluctuating heavy fuel prices and more adaptable to alternative forms of energy."Market conditions are not very good at the moment and there doesn't seem to be a quick-fix solution to the challenges facing the global shipping sector," said Oh-Yoon Kwon, General Manager of the International Cooperation Department for the Korean Shipbuilders' Association (KOSHIPA), which is represented at this year's Posidonia exhibition with eight of its nine members. First-time Posidonia exhibitor Dae Sun is one of Korea's ship yards which has felt the pinch from the reduced number of newbuilding orders from Greek shipowners.Greek or ...