On the occasion of the celebration of World Maritime Day and the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) – the world’s most important safety convention, the maritime community is at a pivotal point of rapid technological developments, The President Dionysis Theodoratos and the members of the Board of Directors of the Association of Passenger Shipping Businesses declare the full support of the Passenger Shipping industry in actions:

– Exploitation of best practices, synergy and cooperation with all relevant international and national maritime policy bodies to upgrade shipping and achieve higher goals in navigation safety and safety of life at sea, as well as higher performance in seafarers’ training and optimization of working and living conditions on board ships.

– Implementation of sustainable shipping methods to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support innovation in the production of alternative fuels and the use of new technologies for a greener and more sustainable shipping as a whole.

Maritime transport continues to be the safest, most environmentally friendly and most energy efficient way to transport the world’s trade and millions of passengers.

Passenger shipping contributes and plays an important role in the European maritime transport system.

The Greek Passenger Shipping sector manages about 18% of the European coastal traffic compared to 2% of the population of Greece compared to the EU.

It serves 85% of freight transport and 100% of the supply needs of the islands of Greece.

It improves the accessibility of our island regions because it is the only mode of transportation and connectivity for these regions.

In this context, the S.E.E.N. supports and participates in a solid strategy:

– Green shipping that supports global sustainable development, safe, energy efficient and affordable maritime transport that respects the environment.

– Use of new technologies for the production and distribution of clean fuels with energy efficient and environmentally friendly techniques for a greener shipping industry as a whole and actions of digitalisation.

– Supporting and mobilising all the resources needed to achieve the objective, access to financial instruments of Programs and Funds, subsidies for environmentally friendly shipping investments.

– Setting international safety standards for ship construction, equipment and operation, prevention and protection of life.

– Development of infrastructure for the safe supply of ships with alternative forms of energy, saving resources and financially rewarding the use of these forms of energy by ships.

World Maritime Day calls for a collective effort to address the ongoing transformation and challenges of the future safely.