Τo L. Karageorgos
[email protected]

“Greece’s primary ports can and should become home-ports for shortsea operators. For this to happen, however, a comprehensive port policy must be implemented at the central level, whereas port managements must designate exclusive shortsea infrastructure and develop a proper pricing policy,” the president of the Hellenic Shortsea Shipowners Association, Charalampos Simantonis, told “N”.

-Which were the main challenges faced by H.S.S.A. in the past year? 
2017 has been, in many aspects, a very interesting year for the Greek shortsea. Limited demand levels and moderate fares, as the market has not yet recovered to the pre-2010 levels and all this in an environment of transition due to new environmental regulations, have been this year’s characteristics. However, the Greek shortsea had to deal with a number of problematic situations, as a result of the existing legal framework.

The vast majority of the issues addressed were matters of a practical nature, which had to do with either the “daily routine” of a ship or the practical implementation of laws and regulations. The fact is that our industry is directly depended on the Greek legislation, which consists of a number of provisions, decrees, etc., creating a highly complex environment and bureaucracy, and, in many cases, the existing legislation is outdated and takes no account of technological developments and much more of market data.

As an example, I would like to refer to the following cases: VAT 24% to ships not engaged on open sea operations (domestic transport), imposition of an age limit on marine fuel supply vessels, a measure not applied anywhere in the world, requirement to supply with national certificates, ships that are already certified by internationally recognized classification societies, imposition of fines on ships that do not use pilots, although these are not available etc.

-What do you think needs to be done to improve the operating environment of the industry?
The revision and simplification of the legislative framework in line with EU standards is essential for creating a more attractive operating environment and can attract more ships in the Greek flag. Because it makes no sense, the EU to step in the simplification procedures to facilitate shortsea shipping in Europe while we are putting extra bureaucracy and obstacles.

In addition, it is necessary to have the appropriate incentives to renew the Greek shortsea fleet and to support the shipbuilding activity in our country. Given the capacity of Greek shipyards, our industry is the one who can contribute decisively in this direction.

The main ports of the country can and should become home-ports for shortsea activity. However, to achieve this, an integrated national port policy is necessary, while at port-level priority must be given both to the determination of dedicated infrastructures for the shortsea as well as the formulation of appropriate pricing policies.

Given that the Greek shortsea carries 70% of the total cargo transported in national level, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive policy to promote shortsea and its integration to multimodal transport chains.

-Is the industry ready to comply with new environmental regulations?
Recently, IMO adopted the goals of shipping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is a positive development, however there is enough discussion and concern at implementation level, as compliance depends on the availability of low-sulfur fuels, “acceptable” technology and the planned compliance checks in the context of implementation.

Although we believe that all ships will comply, however the possibility of non-compliance phenomena cannot be ruled out completely and by extension the same applies to the possibility of market distortion, because of unfair competition.

2020 is almost here and there is still confusion in the industry about the availability of 0.5% sulfur fuels, blended fuels and scrubbers. During this transition period, we cannot ignore the cost issues, both of the adaptation and operation, as we still have no data of the sale price.

Although the use of LNG is promoted as an alternative, the cost of retrofitting existing ships as well as the construction of new ones is a matter of concern, in combination with the number of ports to supply LNG.

In respect to the Mediterranean there is particular concern, since this is a region where ships operating are older compared to the ones of the North Sea. Ships’ age is critical, because if the compliance and operating is high, there is a possibility that these ships will leave the market. In this context, the question is if the ships leaving will be replaced by new European ships.

It is understood that the upgrading and renewal of the European shortsea fleet makes the role of European shipyards crucial. Greek Shortsea can support Greek shipbuilding and repair industry, but it is necessary to provide incentives to facilitate liquidity and to reduce VAT (24%) following the practice of other European countries, which have either zero or very low VAT. Our Association has taken specific initiatives on the alternative of LNG as a marine fuel in order to generate the conditions for the smooth compliance of shortsea vessels. However, our assessment is that there will be difficulties in adapting, although several Greek companies are already prepared to meet to the new conditions.