Greece's shipping industry is, along with tourism, the country's most important one. The shipping sector fuels economic development and indeed stability, and how the key sector performs in the immediate future is crucial for a nation struggling in what is possibly its worst ever economic crisis.

Since history first started to be recorded thousands of years ago, the people of Greece have been identified with the sea and have been a power in world shipping. Greeks have been seafarers since ancient times, while more recently shipowners made fortunes running the British naval blockade in the Napoleonic wars. More recently, the 20th-century rivalry between two of Greece's most famous shipping magnates, Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos, was legendary.

Today, Greece has one of the largest fleets of ships in the world, according to the Greek Shipping Cooperation Committee, owning one seventh of the world's fleet in terms of deadweight tonnage (dwt). Its merchant fleet is the second largest in the world after Japan and ahead of China and Germany, at 140.7 million dwt, while Greece's fleet accounts for about 8 per cent of the world's fleet in terms of vessels, with the total number of ships it operates standing at more than 3,000.

The Greek-controlled fleet (see table) is registered under 47 flags, with about 969 ships being Greek-flagged, while Liberian and Panamanian registered ships account for about 581 and 558 vessels respectively. The number of Greek companies operating ships stands at around 1,142,and they manage on average three ships of 43,795 dwt capacity each, with Greek shipowners taking delivery of 230 newbuildings since the start of 2009. And despite a string of newbuild cancellations or delay, there are about 367 vessels currently on order for 2010 and a further 249 on order for 2011.

Shipping is one of the top contributors to Greece's E240 billion economy, along with tourism and construction, and it accounted for about 5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2009. However, although shipping accounts for just over 1 per cent of Greece's near-5 million workforce, its economic influence is far greater, with foreign earnings from shipping at about E13.5 billion last year, according to the country's central bank. A secondary boost to the economy comes as Greek shipping magnates invest in everything from Greek banks to construction and tourism.

Greek shipowners are key players in the dry bulk shipping sector, which ferries strategic commodities including coal and iron ore, as well being active in the oil tanker market, helping earnings hit a 10-year record high in 2008, at E19.2 billion, with the sector accounting for more than 7 per cent of GDP. Foreign banks account for about 75 per cent of lending to the Greek shipping industry, with total loans related to Greek ship finance booked last year dropping by nearly 9 per cent to $67.02 billion from $73.23 billion in 2008.

Although Greek shipowners also power the second-hand ship market, they have for several years been upgrading their fleets with the purchase of new ships. In addition, Greek shipowners are considered leading clients throughout the world's shipyards. Greeks purchase primarily from Japan, South Korea, China, Germany, Norway, Finland and the Ukraine and, to a lesser extent, France and Italy. Overall, the Greek maritime community represents a huge market for shipbuilders, ship servicing-and-repair facilities, and suppliers of equipment and services.

Shipping may be a cyclical industry, but Greeks have shown time and again that they will weather the tough times and emerge stronger in the future.

(see full story on page 18)

For more on shipping, see also:

Shipping's heart beats in Athens; Posidonia 2010 report, page 20

Shaping shipping policy; exclusive interview with International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Efthimios Mitropoulos, page 22

Calmer seas on the horizon; exclusive interview with Petrofin's Ted Petropoulos, page 24

An old head on young shoulders; exclusive interview with Harry Vafias, President and CEO of StealthGas, page 30

China sees Greece as growth gateway, exclusive interview with China's Commercial Counselor to Athens, Liang Shuhe, page 38

Greece and China bolster economic ties, page 40

COSCO: Piraeus key to EU strategy, page 42

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The magazine, under the previous stewardship of Robert McDonald, covered the Greek Shipping industry extensively.

In June 2006, BF reported: "Overview Sea freight rates reached record highs between the third quarters of 2003 and 2005 leaving Greek ship owners either sitting on mountains of cash or heavily investing in greening their fleets. Some are said to be holding hundreds of millions of euros - industry gossip says one has f2.5bn parked in time deposits - waiting for ship prices to come down while others are already heavily committed to new building programmes."

Read some of the detailed reports and analysis here.

In June 2008, BF pointed out that "Shipping, ordinarily an industry of short-term peaks and troughs, has enjoyed a prolonged five year boom because of the industrialisation of China and rapid economic growth in other countries of South East Asia and the Indian Subcontinent."

Read the full introduction and download the whole issue here.