Ferry firms under threat
At least one coastal shipping company could be facing bankruptcy in the next few months, Deputy Minister for Merchant Marine Adonis Georgiadis warned on Wednesday.
He said certain proposals from the industry that his ministry has forwarded to the Finance Ministry and Greece?s creditors include a reduction to the value-added tax rate for the hosting services on board (cabins etc) and of transporting vans and trucks from 23 percent to 6.5 percent, as well as measures to facilitate credit by Hellenic Petroleum to coastal shipping firms that have cash-flow problems, by taking 50 percent of the subsidized route contracts as guarantee for fuel payment.
The price of fuel has risen by 75 percent since 2009 for conventional ships.
