Fleet gets bigger and better
The Greek merchant fleet is improving in terms of both quantity and quality, according to Petrofin Research data for the first half of the year. Greek-owned ships numbered 4,545 at end-June, up from 4,346 at end-December 2007, with 3,019 of these having a capacity of over 10,000 deadweight tons and accounting for 98.2 percent of the Greek fleet’s total capacity. The average age of the fleet has been reduced from 18.7 years to 18.4 in the last six months. «The quality revolution in Greek shipping continues and this is also evident in its numbers. Ship prices are rising like never before, but the market continues to operate at a pace that defies all forecasts,» the report says. Petrofin Research stresses the importance of the rise in shipping companies with one or two ships, which grew to 340 from 307 in 2007. In total 758 companies manage Greek ships, up from 735 at end-2007.
