Maritime Greece in the Privatization Era: Challenges and Opportunities of the China – Greece Cooperation

Great success for the 5th Shipping Conference organized by the Fraternity of the Athenian Hydriots (www.aya.com.gr) for the fifth consecutive year, on Saturday 14, 2013, in Hydra, at the Historical Archives – Museum of Hydra. This institutional conference, held at the greatly commemorated island that bears an extremely important nautical history, gathered a large audience of distinguished Greek and foreign personalities of the shipping, business, diplomatic and political scene, covering a wide range of critical issues, concerning the Sino-Greek cooperation and the prospects created for further development.
The catalytic role of the Greek shipping industry in the recovery of the Greek economy, the crucial contribution of the Greek-Chinese cooperation, the performance of the business activity and the prospects of industrial partnership between the two countries, were the main pillars of interest. Keynote speakers such as the Secretary General for International Economic Relations and Development Cooperation at Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Panayiotis Michalos, the Commercial Attaché of the Chinese Embassy in Greece, Sun Liwei, attended the conference, as well as: John Coustas – President & CEO, Danaos Corp., Kyriakos Dermatis – Chairman of Intermodal Shipbroking, John Dragnis – CEO, Goldenport Holdings, Nathanael Mauclair – Deputy Director - International Listings, NYSE Euronext, Inc., Martin Stopford -President, Clarkson Research Services Ltd. Manolis Vordonis – ex General Manger of Thenamaris and Haisheng Zhou - General Manager, China Classification Society. A significant number of distinguished executives of the Greek shipping market and business participated in the discussion declaring this conference as the first institutionalized “free thought and pratique”, apart from the speakers, everyone had the opportunity to speak and express their views.
John Sahinis, Chairman of the Fraternity of the Athenian Hydriots, in his opening speech briefly presented the objectives of the Fraternity. These objectives, among others, are to promote the maritime history of Hydra, to attract young people to maritime professions, which were pioneered in Hydra and link researchers, senior managers, institutes and organizations of international shipping. The large audience was welcomed by Major of Hydra, Mr. Angelos Kotronis, congratulating the organizers for their five years of continuous effort to establish the institution of maritime conference in naval Hydra.
The conference covered key institutional issues of the present and future economic and trade cooperation between Greece and China, highlighting the added value of this for the development of the Greek economy and shipping in general.
Extremely fruitful was the speech of Mr. Panayiotis Michalos, Secretary General for International Economic Relations and Development Cooperation at Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on “the new government agreements in the development of Greek-Chinese relations in the business environment and their importance in the development of the economy”, thus emphasizing the critical factor of developing a coherent national strategy for marine and maritime trade, which will link Greece with global growth.
Valuable was the insight given by Mr. Sun Liwei, Commercial Attaché of the Chinese Embassy in Greece, into important facts of the Greek-Chinese cooperation, further noting the developments that Chinese entrepreneurs expect to happen in Greece.
Stock market sectors developed by China in order to meet the future requirements of international shipping companies and the subsequent reaction of NYSE in the face of these recent news, was analyzed by Nathanael Mauclair – Deputy Director - International Listings, NYSE Euronext, Inc.
The driving force between Greece and China, was highlighted by Manolis Vordonis – ex General Manger of Thenamaris, who also mentioned the cultural ties between these two nations, highlighting the importance of fostering and encouraging similar dynamic action plans and collaborative activities.
Kyriakos Dermatis – Chairman of Intermodal Shipbroking and member of the board of directors of the Chinese-Greek Chamber, invited the attendees in co-commitment to widen the necessary on this critical economic period, cooperation of relevant institutions. “A small country like ours has the power of global shipping and this can become our bargaining chip. In far away China we have found a friend and ally, we have found a partner that by building our cooperation can give a helping hand to the economy of our country”.
George Xiradakis, representing the Greece-China Association, pointed out the important work of the Association, the oldest organization that connects the two countries, explaining to the audience the important dimension that now takes place, the union of the two richest historical and cultural countries of the world. “The Greek bonds of friendship start from our cultural relationship and grow in all other areas including business relations. Our Chinese friends are open to the possibility of investing in Greece and furthermore the corresponding development of Greek business in P.R. of China”.
The big question addressed in this conference was Greece’s ability to attract Chinese capital and Chinese entrepreneurs. Mr. Michalos in his mellow technocratic presentation discussed the need for a coherent strategy by the Greek side, which he named Blue Strategy. The shipping industry is a leading parameter of this strategy, since it plays the major role in the international business activity of the Greek economy, and leading Greece to become a worthy partner of the large Chinese market.
Mr. Sun Liwei, who urged Greece to accelerate all necessary measures and procedures for restructuring the country’s investment and development model in order to absorb Chinese investments, answered the question of Mr. Harris Petrakakos about the deficit of Greek investments in the Chinese Shipbuilding industry compared to the Chinese investments in Greece. Sun Liwei also mentioned how effective for Greece was the investment of Cosco Terminals at the port of Piraeus, mentioning also the strong Chinese interest and the help of the Chinese Embassy in Greece that will continue to assist in this direction. Mr. Liwei further pointed out that China and Chinese investors have always wanted equal rights in the profits of both parties and added that for this reason the Chinese shipbuilding industry has made strides to deliver to Greek ship-owners good quality ships at competitive prices.
Haisheng Zhou, the General Manager of the China Classification Society, presented a positive outlook of the shipbuilding industry in his country, highlighting the importance of C.C.S in this momentum. To cover the difference presented by its competitors, the shipbuilding industry in China is strongly supported by government policy and Chinese banks. In an effort to grow even more great emphasis is given on new technologies and the market of a new environmental friendly type of ship. Mr. Zhou emphasized the rapid penetration of Chinese shipyards in the Greek shipping market and the steadily increasing acceptance of C.C.S. by the Greek ship-owners. Reiterating his country’s position, he identified that the need to improve services offered, remains an obligation for them, which will in turn, decide the future of Greek-Chinese relations.
Of particular interest was the afternoon session, in which the main goal was the targeted investigation and analysis of data relating to the maritime market.
The anticipated overview of the Shipping Market by Mr. Martin Stopford - President, Clarkson Research Services Ltd., was detailed and informative. Mr. Stopford summarizing the shipping markets stressed out, that shipping has entered into a long circled process with difficult factors affecting profitability. This requires a particular strategy to address the high prices in fuel and the necessary structural changes in regulatory matters, such as the environment. He also pointed out that many ship-owners turn to new technologies and especially to energy markets (offshore) as well as new financial structure strategies. He described all of the above as “new lessons to be learned” in the shipping market, furthermore he added that information technology becomes of great importance for changes in the shipping industry. Mr. Stopford emphasized that decidedly Greek ship-owners will continue to expand their operations in China since the service quality offered is steadily improving.
The shipbuilding sector as a challenge for the Greek shipping companies was revealed by Mr. John Dragnis - CEO, Danaos Corp., highlighting the rapid growth of the Chinese shipbuilding and giving the assurance that there is even greater scope for development mainly in terms of specialized ships and pointed out that there can be no comparison of the current product compared with the past one. Mr. Dragnis also stressed the need to support the shipbuilding industry by the Chinese banks, something they did in the past and continues to happen in all shipbuilding countries.
Dr. John Coustas, President & CEO, Danaos Corp., referred to the great potential of the Chinese shipping market in all active Greek ship-owners sectors, highlighting the possibility of finding common ground for cooperation between Greece and China. Dr. Coustas described the business environment of China as historically safe since the spread of the Chinese economy in the international arena assures reciprocal benefits for both parties involved. “The so-called model of business cooperation ‘win win’ is gaining ground in the international markets”, said Mr. Coustas, while foreseeing further development in Greece and internationally.
During the Major sponsors’ presentation session, Mr. Yannis Panou, CEO of United Guards Services, outlined the current developments in the fight against piracy and presented the superb services of his company. Similarly, Mr. Haisheng Zhou introduced China Classification Society outlining its long history and its march towards its current international presence. Mr. Zhou stressed the important role that CCS within the shipping industry in China and most specific in shipbuilding market and Ship-financing arena.
One of the parallel events, was the three-day screening of the film “The boy and the Dolphin”, starting Sophia Lauren, that when aired in 1957 sparked waves of tourists to Hydra and Greece in general. The same night receptions were given to speakers on yachts owned by friends of the Fraternity, in the port of Hydra. On Sunday morning, all participants were invited to participate to the Treasure Hunt, part of the Fraternity’s campaign to promote internationally “The Footpath System of Hydra”, whereby Hydra’s numerous assets were showcased.  The Fraternity organized these parallel activities, in collaboration with local entrepreneurs, who became beneficiaries as part of the effort to develop winter tourism, a common objective of all Hydriots.
Conference coordinators were George Xiradakis – Managing Director, XRTC Business Consultants and Nigel Lowry, Greek Correspondent, Lloyd’s List.
Among others, the conference was attended by representatives of the local community, the Naval Attaché of the U.S., Commander Jonathan E. Schwartz, the former Head Consultant for the development of Commercial Ports and Marinas and Managing Director of Danaos Port Development Ltd., Apostolos Kamarinakis, President & CEO of Freeseas Inc., Mr. Ion Varouxakis, the Finance Director of Metrostar, Mr. Michalis Sapountzoglou, the President of Hellenic Shortsea Shipowners Association, Mr. Charalampos Simantonis, the Purchasing Division Manager of Hellenic Seaways, Mr. Nestos Tsantis, representatives of the China Development Bank, Mr. Guo Peng and Lu Yu, executives of the Chinese Embassy in Greece, members of the Ministry of Shipping and the Aegean and also by the decedents of historic families of Hydra such as Mr. Stamatis Boudouris and Spyros Lazarimos.
The conference was under the auspices of the Ministry of Shipping and the Aegean, the Ministry of Tourism, the Hellenic-Chinese Association, the Hellenic-Chinese Chamber and the Association of Banking and Financial executives of Greek shipping industry.
Source: The Fraternity of the Athenian Hydriots (5th Shipping Conference)