Greek shipowners are threatening the dominance of their German peers in the container ship segment of the market, according to German daily Financial Times Deutschland.

In a report entitled “Greece burdens German shipping,” FTD argues that “Greek shipowners are exploiting the merchant marine market due to the crisis and are gradually disputing the dominance of German shipowners.”

German shippers still command the biggest container ship fleet, but play almost no part to major deals nowadays, the newspaper reported on Saturday.

Citing sources from the shipping sector, FTD said that for instance “Maersk pays $30,000-35,000 per day for each one of the seven Greek vessels it has chartered for a period of three to five years.”

Alphaliner analysts say that “the ownership structure of the global container ship fleet is changing owing to the economic crisis, as Greek shipowners are threatening the dominant position German shippers have in the number of chartered vessels.”