The Finance Ministry tax initiative that tripled the capacity tax on all vessels in Greece has caused the intense reaction of the Greek Shipowners Union. The president of the union, Theodoros Veniamis, described the three-year tax that applies to all ships belonging to Greece -based companies, regardless of their flag, as an obvious violation of the Greek Constitution.
According to Veniamis, this tax is canceling a union’s previous initiative for the optional doubling of the capacity tax for three years. Almost 3,000 ships, that represent the vast majority of the Greek fleet, had been committed to the voluntary doubling of their taxation.
The president of the shipowners expressed his hope that the Greek government will soon realize that the measure will not be efficient, as has been the case with other similar measures. He added that the revenues shortfall that the Greek government expects from the voluntary contribution could be covered by attracting more new vessels to the Greek register or discussing other proposals that would be mutually acceptable.
Veniamis noted that the Greek-owned fleet retained its global lead in 2013, controlling 16.25% of the world’s fleet based on capacity, 23.5% of the global tanker fleet and 18.5% of the world’s dry-bulk carriers.
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