With the experience of 54 years of activity in Greek shipping, Giorgos Prokopiou, founder of the companies Dynacom Tankers, Sea Traders and Dynagas, spoke from the podium of the 8th Naftemporiki Conference about all the new trends and challenges faced by Greek shipowners today.
His message? It is a sector with enormous challenges and constant upheavals. In order to survive, one must love what he does and have patience and perseverance. Closer cooperation between shipowners and the state is also absolutely necessary, as is the change in the attitude of the European Union.
“We represent 0.006% of the world’s population. But we have a larger shipping sector than China which has shipyards, banks, and plenty of seamen. This is the miracle of Greek shipping,” Prokopiou said.
The 5 major challenges
– The rapid development of technology. A ship you buy today may be technologically “obsolete.”
– The uncertainty of trading. “You make contracts for 30 years and in 3 years humanity has changed. Friends become enemies, sanctions are coming,” he noted.
– The third challenge is none other than high interest rates,
– The fourth challenge is trade wars.
– Finally, an important challenge is the new pollution regulations.
“EU is the enemy of Greek shipping”
Prokopiou did not hide his disappointment with the way the European Union treats Greek shipping.
More specifically, he said that the “EU is a sworn enemy of Greek shipping.”
