This is Capitalism- For the vast majority of the Greek people the capitalist economic crisis of the last 7 years means harsh austerity, cutbacks in wages and pensions, mass lay-offs, destruction of the small businesses and new taxes for the low-income families. But for the Greek shipping companies- a dominant power in international maritime industry- the crisis is an opportunity for more profits.
Greek shipping giants are more powerful than ever and the value of the Greek merchant fleet is approximately $90,000,000,000 (90 billion) says the report of German "Die Welt". The Greek shipping industry is by far the most powerful, taking into account that the respective shipping industry of Germany (the 4th largest merchant fleet globally) has a value of $42 billion- less than half of the Greek one.
As "Die Welt" points out, this period is a period of new orders for the Greek shipping monopolies- 172 orders for tankers and 140 for other merchant vessels. There were 404 total orders for new ships, with a cost of $21 billion, by the end of May 2016.
The merchant fleet under Greek ownership consists the 19.63% of the total international fleet and the 49.96% in the European Union.
For the policy of the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government in favor of the shipping industry read here.
In Defense of Communism ©.