Greece’s incoming conservative government has taken wide-ranging measures to boost the country’s historic but sagging shipping flag.
In late July, parliament passed a new law that allows owners of Greek-flagged ships to offer labour contracts, under the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), to their seafarers — up to the rank of second mate or third engineer.
It also gives them the option to employ a non-Greek master onboard a Greek-flag vessel, if a local is not available.
Both measures, long advocated by the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS), are expected to lower labour costs on Greek-flagged vessels.
The ITF-type contracts effectively undercut the national labour agreements by Greek seafarers’ union PNO, which are negotiated separately and generally envisage higher wages for seafarers.
A third engineer on board a Greek-flagged vessel is earning a basic monthly salary of €1,233 ($1,450) per month. On ITF rates, an officer of the same rank earns a basic $1,049 per month.
However, shipowners doubt this will be enough to revive the Greek flag, which lost more than half its market share over the past 40 years and currently accounts for less than 4% of the global tonnage.
“These measures go in the right direction, but they’re not enough,” a major Greek shipowner told TradeWinds.
With just a very few exceptions, notably the Angelicoussis Group, most Greek owners who hoist their country’s flag do so for just part of their fleet — for sentimental reasons, or as a means to recruit Greek officers.
Local talent is still prized, but the pool from which it comes is shrinking fast. The seaborne labour pool now stands at about 15,000 seafarers, compared with more than 100,000 at the beginning of the century.
