A rise in fuel prices has forced Greece’s coast shipping companies to raise prices. After over a decade of price stability, fares on Ferries according to Mihalis Sakellis, chairman of the Association of Passenger Ship Operators.
Sakellis says an increase in business has been accompanied by a 29 percent increase in fuel prices in 2017 and by another 25 percent in 2018, a development that burdened companies’ financial results by 100 million euros, or 15 percent of total fares.
The industry is calling for tax relief to offset losses including a proposed reduction in VAT rates to 13 percent or even 6 percent in order to cover increased operating expenses without raising transport costs.
Further increases are expected as companies strive to meet requirements for using cleaner fuels, according toSakellis, who said that the coastal shipping business was facing a further increase in costs by 30 percent or more from 2020 onwards.
Greece’s Pan-Hellenic Seamen’s Federation (PNO) has just come off a strike that reveals the hidden underneath problems Greece shipping faces. Back in November ferries remained docked on account of demands for the government to restore collective agreements with raises in wages and pensions and for the minimum wage in Greece to return to 751 euros.
Some 74 ships currently operating in coastal shipping lines in the Aegean Sea and the Ionian Sea, of which 13.5 percent have an age of more than 40 years. Sakellis said that by the end of the next decade, 41 ships will be aged more than 40 years leading to the need for gradual replacement of the fleet.
Source: Greek City Times