By Ioannis Plakiotakis*

A specific action plan is being deployed at the Ministry of Shipping & Island Policy, ever since the first day the new government assumed duties. This plan includes the main pillars of political interventions that will be made in respective main sectors of the shipping industry. Each of these sectors covers a broad range of shipping activities. The main features of these interventions are pragmatism, innovation and the added value they bring to shipping, one of the key sectors of Greece’s national economy.

*IoannisPlakiotakis is minister of Shipping & Island Policy.

The first pillar pertains to shipping. We are already speedily promoting interventions for the modernisation of the national ship register and of maritime education for the creation of a national maritime single window and an electronic crew list.

In the critical sector of maritime education in particular, we will be promptly initiating the revision and modernisation of the legislative environment, by introducing a Framework Law for its organisation and operation that shall include:

• providing material-technical infrastructure support to Naval Academies (building repairs, renovations, restorations);
• increasing the capacity of academies in relation to the number of student admissions;
• supporting the extroversion of academies;
• promptly launching the substantial operation of Career Office, for an effective interconnection between education and the market place;
• providing tangible support to public maritime education.

At the same time we will enhance private maritime education as well, governed, however, by rules, with a clear quality framework of operation. The Centre of Training Merchant Marine Officers of Nea Michaniona (Chalkidiki region), which has been inaugurated on 6 September 2019, is in fact part of this agenda. 

We are also closely following international trends in a number of new maritime professions, given that the new employment environment on ships is becoming ever more digitalized. Additionally, in the framework of upgrading maritime education, we will introduce for the first time a special course in Naval Academies, which will offer specialization in yachting.

The second pillar has to do with the ports and the country’s port policy. Our government firmly believes that ports may and must evolve into “engines” for the growth of both national and regional economy. We have therefore accelerated the processes for the implementation of investment programmes in the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki, which remained pending for too long, without good reason.

The new improved Master Plan for the port of Piraeus, which provides for EUR 800 million in investments, has already been forwarded to the Port Planning and Development Committee, and it is my estimate that it will be launched in the very near future. The investment plan for the port of Thessaloniki is also under way. As far as the other ten ports are concerned, we have already commissioned feasibility studies for each port separately, in collaboration with Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund. There are no prerequisites and the conclusions of these studies will help us make the best possible choice for their utilisation. In any event, we should not forget the value of ports to our national economy and the country’s geostrategic policy as well as their role in the combined transport chain.

In the pillar of coastal shipping, we are already promoting an overall reform of Greece’s coastal shipping system. Furthermore, we will revise the legislative framework for the operation of Greek coastal shipping, to prevent phenomena of deficient service, late approvals of ship routings, overlapping of routes, etc. In short, common rules applying to everyone will be established. Especially in relation to the non-profit lines, we have already taken the necessary legislative initiatives required for a full reform of the system. The recent problems on the island of Samothraki highlighted the necessity for this reform.

The next pillar pertains to maritime tourism, a large part of the tourism industry with an interactive role, since it serves as a supplier of other categories. From a national aspect, maritime tourism helps preserve the cohesion of insular Greece and carries the Greek flag as far as the last islet. Our policy in this critical sector of national economy is one: “Open seas for all, with rules and respect for the national and EU law. Respect the principle of proportionality and reciprocity in regard to other countries”.

Everything points in one direction. The modernisation and simplification of the existing legal framework by abolishing regulations that have proven to be inefficient and an obstruction to growth, by adopting legislative interventions similar to those of other EU countries, which have been proven successful, and by codifying the dispersed laws.

Finally, in the critical area of island policy, we have already prepared a new approach and we are proceeding with the planning of a Special Development Programme for an Integrated Maritime Policy in the Islands by exploiting funds from the Public Investments Program and the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), addressing from a holistic point of view the issues of port infrastructures, island entrepreneurship as well as focused initiatives in the sector of cyclical economy in islands, etc.

We will also be coordinating the formulation of a National Strategy for Blue Growth and we will actively pursue our participation in the formulation of the EU Island Agenda in areas such as: fishing, energy, combined transport and competition. Greece must cooperate and be at the forefront of the European dialogue about islands, in order to claim special financing programs.