Newsfront, 11.03.2016

Strengthening short sea shipping and the improvement of Greek shortsea fleet topped the agenda, March 3, when the leaders of Greece’s Hellenic Shortsea Shipping Association (HSSA) met with Simos Kedikoglou, shadow shipping minister of the opposition New Democracy party. During the meeting HSSA president, Charalmpos Simantonis made reference to the safe manning of short sea ships, action required of the Piraeus port administration to make the port more competitive and attractive to the short sea sector as home port. The potential tax charges related to shipbuilding and bunkering activities, were covered as was the future of the Hellenic Seamens Pension Fund (NAT) and its sustainability, expressing the view the accumulated experience and knowledge should not be lost and therefore should come under the new system to maintain its autonomy. Special reference was made to the HSSA’s Europa Ship Plan initiative, which aims to renew the sector’s fleet and improve the energy and environmental performance and efficien-cy of ships, so they meet the new demands and challenges of international and European regulations. Simantonis stressed implementation of Europa Ship Plan is directly linked to the reactivation of the Greek shipyards with multiple benefits for the sector.

source: http://www.newsfront.gr/