Ελληνικα
Newsfront, 27 May 2016
The European Investment Bank is ready to guarantee loans secured from private banks to cover the building or retrofitting of vessels in the aging, outdated European short sea fleet. The fleet has to be upgraded to meet new environmental regulations according to the Hellenic Shortsea Shipowners Association (HSSA). HSSA has taken a survey of the fleet and found 25 companies, 20 of them Greek, running ferries and 15 tankers and dry cargo ships are ready to move ahead with projects involving 33 vessels in all.
Central to the sweeping programme aimed at modernising the short sea shipping fleet is the Europa Ship Plan, being championed by the HSSA which aims at introducing a sustainable financing strategy for owners unable to get traditional bank financing in today’s market. Europa Ship Plan is open to and accessible to all shipowners, particularly those on southern Europe. Speaking to the media, May 20, association president, Haralambos Simantonis said the vessels involved cover dry and wet, LPG carriers and multipurpose ships and are between 10,000dwt and 20,000dwt dual fuel capability, burning both LNG and fuel, and built in Europe. While some could be built in Greece’s Perama, the Greek plan aims at reviving European shipbuilding generally and members of the association have visited some 25 shipyards and discussed the project.
At the same time, the shipowners are promoting Greek equipment manufacturers with a view to getting them included on makers” lists. According to the HSSA, the plan will lead to the construction of «green» ships, which can also use LNG as fuel. «The economies of scale and standardisation (modular) of the shipbuilding process is expected to create strategic advantages to the project,» says the HSSA. Michael Sakellis, president of the Greek Association of Passenger Shipping Companies (SEEN), said the Europa Plan is good opportunity to re-new the ferry fleet. He noted that in Greece some 44 unprofitable lines are serviced by many ships which are old. «In five to 10 years these ships must be replaced and this could be done by vessels specifically built to service these unprofitable lines. Vessels could also be specifically built for service in the Adriatic between Greece and Italy.»
A special purpose vehicle (SPV), Europa Venture Ltd, has been set up to promote implementation of the Europa Ship Plan. Panayotis Zacharioudakis, md of Europa Venture, emphasised the Mediterranean fleet has to be renewed with the capability to use LNG. He said orders placed could have a 15% discount and be in service by the end of 2017 and into 2018. Director of the EU’s “Motorways of the sea” project, Jose Anselmo, emphasised re-newal of the shortsea fleet is not just a Greek issue, but a European-wide one.
Carl Carlsson, of the Swedish Shipowners Association (SSA) and Zero Vision Tool, said the SSA and shipowners from Finland have been involved in some 20 projects concerning «green shipbuilding and retrofitting, none of which would have been possible without EU support». Georgios Vozikis, HSSA executive director, believes «collaboration among Greek, Swedish and Finnish shipowners can lead to the much demanded renewal of Europe’s shortsea fleet»