The work of the 11th Maritime Conference co-organized by the Maritime Economies newspaper and the Institute of Maritime & Economic Studies, on Thursday 10/1/2019 at the War Museum, was concluded with particular success.
Shipping Finance & Capital Markets
Shipping as Private or Listed? The Shipping Finance Alternatives in 2019
Our conference was addressed to the entire Maritime industry. Invited again this time were shipowners, executives of major shipping companies, finance managers of shipping companies, executives of oil companies, executives of stock exchanges and banks, distinguished representatives of the business community, international analysts, Greek and foreign journalists, students of maritime and economic studies, etc. etc.
The conference was divided into 3 sections:
1st session: The Political effect of the Maritime Policy in the EU
The Deputy Minister of Shipping of Cyprus, Natassa Pileidou, the Deputy Minister of Shipping of Greece, Nektarios Santorinios, and the Head of Shipping and former President of the New Republic, Ioannis Plakiotakis, participated in this section.
The Minister of Shipping of Malta, Mr. Ian Borg, due to an emergency government obligation, was unable to attend the conference and sent his speech in an official letter.
The subject of the discussion focused on the fact that the 3 countries, controlling 70% of the European fleet, must implement a more dynamic policy, defending the interests of Shipping as an industry against the tendency for pro-regulation and restrictions imposed by the IMO.
The Cyprus model of political actions was developed and was enthusiastically accepted as an example to be emulated even in Greece, which is the first maritime power in the world.
The Minister of Shipping of Malta Mr. Borg was appointed as follows
Good morning. I proudly bear greetings to you from maritime Malta.
It was my intention as Minister for Transport to participate in today's Congress and address this gathering. Unfortunately, I couldn't be with you in person today.
It is a great pleasure and honor for Malta to participate in this Conference being held in the capital of shipping. We welcome this initiative by the organizers and look forward to a healthy debate that can feed concrete actions into the further development of European shipping.
It is no secret that the shipping industry in general is undergoing rapid and substantial changes which require the industry to seek cost reductions and operating efficiencies including technological innovations. We must thus ensure that in the future this industry is supported by hundreds of well trained and qualified professionals. With increasing use of technology and digitalization, there is the need to have adequate training on the use of new technologies.
This is a time for transformation – both operationally and structurally – in the shipping industry, particularly within Europe.
We know that people can be uncomfortable with change, but the task is to recognize that this change is an opportunity to build an industry that is more stable, more efficient, and more resilient to the demands of the shipping market while remaining competitive.
On the other hand, we as policy makers need to be sensitive to the needs of an industry that is indispensable to the world and especially Europe. We should do our utmost to listen to the industry and ensure that we show flexibility and support.
2nd Session: Shipping & Capital Markets. Does it work?
The invited speakers from the field of shipping companies listed on international stock exchanges and non-listed shipping companies, were led to a fruitful debate with the central theme "Is it worth a shipping company to be listed today or not?"
The coordinator of the session and banker Giorgos Xiradakis, president and CEO of XRTC, presented data on listed and private shipping companies of Greek interest.
"Regarding shipping funding and on the occasion of the conference at the War Museum, I tell you that we are in a war environment as shipping. Perhaps it would be better to say that we are in a scene immediately after the end of a war where we see around us bombed buildings smoking after the fire" he emphasized and added:
"At the international level, government agencies cannot support shipping. Bank loans remain the main source of funding. The Chinese are coming in strong. We do not see a recovery in the withdrawal of funds from the money markets. We do not have possible public registrations of companies. The flourishing of shipping markets starts with those who know how to invest in Shipping and these are the Scandinavians.
The speakers came to the general conclusion that no distinction can be made between listed and unlisted companies as far as funding is concerned. Each side has pros and cons. After all, many groups have both listed and private companies
