“The return of the country’s shipbuilding units will not be sufficient unless a number of measures are taken to correct distortions and misguided policies of the past. We must protect the heavy industry that supports our shipping, so as to avoid situations that cost the Greek economy in the past, as well as the shipbuilding companies,” the president of the Piraeus Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vassilis Korkidis, said at the Posidonia 2024 exhibition.
The exhibition, he said, is taking place at a significant crossroads with the rebirth of the Greek shipbuilding industry, which is displayed in a prominent position. Syros, Elefsis, Skaramagas, Chalkida and Perama will be in the same level with a total of 85 shipyards from 26 countries.
The challenge, in the present phase, is the formation of an institutional framework, from the co-competent ministries of Development, Finance, Labour, Maritime Affairs and Defense so as that the shipyards become in practice the industrial infrastructure of the country’s shipping, the virtues of which, with the business model, the know-how and the utilization of the human potential, have made it a leading force in the global shipping industry.
Κorkidis stressed the importance of the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ promise to be by the Greek shipowners’ side in every challenge they will face, from the green transition to safe ports and shipyards.
“Our shipbuilding industry is the future of our economy, which must be strongly supported as it will be called upon to contribute to the green transition of shipping, but also to support the renewal of our coastal fleet,” he underlined.
Korkidis particularly emphasized the fact that the activation of the tugboat construction line gives work to hundreds of working hands and, in fact, Greek ones, given that the tugboats will be built in the ONEX shipyards.
