Maritime transport

In a concerning development for global trade, the Suez Canal has experienced a dramatic drop of more than 40% in traffic volume, attributed to repeated attacks by Yemen rebels on merchant ships. The United Nations, through data provided by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), expresses deep concerns about the implications of these disruptions on worldwide commerce.

Logistic experts foresee serious consequences of the crisis in the Red Sea. The majority of world goods turnover is realized by sea transport. After a series of challenges in 2022-2023, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the lack of equipment and the Suez Canal blockage, at the end of 2023 - a new maritime transport crisis arose. It threatens world trade and negatively affects the economy.

Greek-owned shipping companies made investments in new and used ships of the order of 27 billion dollars last year, as they invest in the renewal of the Greek-owned fleet. No other nationality made a greater investment in 2023.

The Suez Canal crisis has started to cause significant delays in the smooth supply of the Greek market with durable consumer goods imported from Asia, such as refrigerators, televisions, computers and cars.

Two of the world's largest shipping firms, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, said Friday they were suspending passage through a Red Sea strait vital for global commerce, after Yemeni rebel attacks in the area.

A Greek-managed merchant ship transporting grains was lightly damaged off the coast of Ukraine and was likely to have been hit by a floating sea mine, according to maritime specialists and a Ukrainian government source.

This is the latest incident affecting commercial ships sailing in the Black Sea.

Chinese-owned merchant ships have exceeded, in gross-tonnage, Greek-owned ones, Clarksons Research, the data and analytics arm of shipping brokers Clarksons, says. 

According to the research, Chinese-owned ships have a total gross-tonnage of 249.2 million GTs, followed by Greek (249 million), Japanese (181 million), South Korean (66 million) and US-owned ships (66 million). 

The Hellenic Coast Guard released a statement on Monday rejecting claims made by domestic and international media that the fishing vessel that was shipwrecked last week off the coast of the Peloponnese was stationary for several hours before capsizing.

Türkiye welcomed more than 299,000 cruise passengers in the first five months of 2023, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu has announced.

The Greek Coast Guard on Wednesday stated that at least 78 migrants have been found dead after a fishing boat was wrecked off Pylos, Peloponnese. So far, 104 migrants have been rescued.

A rescue operation took place in the early hours of the morning in international waters 47 nautical miles southwest of Pylos.