The course of sea transport is mainly determined by global economic conditions, the development of the capitalist crisis and the course of world trade. The synchronized capitalist crisis of over-accumulation manifested also in sea transport.

 The capitalists’ worries are focused on the following factors:

1. The questions arising from the development of the capitalist crisis in Eurozone, U.S.A., Japan and the other capitalist countries.

2. Whether growth in world trade leading countries, such as China, India, Brazil and others, will continue at the same rate.

3. The fact that a large number of ships have been added and tonnage has increased within the period from 2003 until 2013, resulting in a capacity surplus which exceeds the increase of demand in sea transport.

 2. Thedevelopmentoffreightmarket

 In the period from September 2003 until July 2008, an increase of ship-owners’ freight and profits was observed, which resulted in the over-accumulation of immense capital through the increase of the maritime workers’ exploitation rate. This is a period of record-high profits, as indicated by the typical example of capsize ships (ships above 150,000 long tons DWT) which in May 2008 reached a daily freight rate of 214,000 dollars.

 Ship-owners made enormous fortunes of billions of dollars. Greek ship-owners are included in the world’s richest capitalists. It is a fact that the manifestation of the capitalist crisis affects the freight market’s course from 2009 until this day. In 2012, freight rates decreased and reached the last decade’s lowest level.

 In conclusion, we may assert that the capitalist crisis and the capacity oversupply of dry bulk cargo, container and tank ships continue to exert strong pressure on freight rates, something which, according to competent shipbrokers and ship-owners, will continue also in 2013.

 3. The developments in the world merchant fleet, as well as the Greek-owned

 According to the data, on 1 January 2013, the world merchant fleet consisted of 87,534 ships of a transport capacity of 1,092,940,000 Gt – of a value of about 809.3 billion dollars. Transport capacity (Gt) of the world merchant fleet increased by 5.5% in 2012, in comparison with 7.9% in 2011 and 8.7% in 2010.

 The Greek-owned merchant fleet comes 2nd at a worldwide level and 1st in the European Union, while the merchant fleet under Greek flag comes 9th at worldwide level. The Greek-owned fleet consists of 4,624 ships of 151,000,000 Gt of a value of 72.3 billion dollars and 409 of newly built ships of 24,600,000 Gt of a value of 28.4 billion dollars (in 2012, the Greek-owned merchant fleet was decreased by 61 ships, while its capacity in Gt was increased by 3.2%).

 The Greek-owned merchant fleet controls 13.81% of gross register tonnage of the world merchant fleet. The average fleet age of the fleet under the Greek flag is 23.8 years and of the Greek-owned fleet, 16.3 years. In the period from 1990 until 2012, the Greek-owned merchant fleet was increased by 54.98% (1,334 ships) and its transport capacity (in Gt) by 234.69%.

 From 1 January 2003 until the 3rd quarter of 2012, the newly built ships orders came up to 1,947 ships of a value of 110 billion dollars and 1,636 more second-hand ships of a value of 57.2 billion Euros in the period from 2006 to 2012. In 2012, ship-owners invested 5.1 billion dollars for building 116 ships and 4.4 billion dollars in purchasing 238 second-hand ships.

 Greek ship-owners, due to the maritime workers’ high exploitation rate, have managed to accumulate loads of capital and continue to profit also during the crisis, where although freight rates have decreased, ship lay-ups are not as vast as in previous capitalist crises. The great accumulation of capitals allowed Greek ship-owners to invest in real estate, modern tourism facilities, banks and mass media in Greece, while they exported billions of Euros abroad.

 The ten largest merchant fleets of global shipping, according to the nationality of their ship-owners and the registered office of the corresponding shipping companies, are the following: Japan, Greece, China, Germany, South Korea, U.S.A., Norway, Italy, Singapore and Denmark. They control 48% of the world fleet, which is 41,673 ships, 69.3% of transport capacity, namely 758,100,000 Gt and 67% of the worldmerchant fleet’s value, namely 544.8 billion dollars. Their orders reach 2,544 newly-built ships (54%), of 109,200,000 Gt (63%), of a value of 179 billion dollars (61%).

 4. The relation of national with open registries in the world merchant fleet – ship registration

Analysis according to ownership – flag of the ship indicates the increasing concentration tension of merchant ships to “open registries” – flags of convenience. At a worldwide level, the percentage of ships “under foreign flag” – in relation to the nationality of the ship-owner and the actual registered office of the shipping company – increased from 41.50% in 1989 to 71.5% in 2012. The 10 main “open registry” flags concentrate 65.80% – 719,200,000 Gt – of the entire world merchant fleet.

 Issues to be further researched and studied for making valuable conclusions are as follows: The Greek-owned ocean-going shipping as U.S.A.’s strategic sea carrier (25% of oil imports, as well as of grain and other bulk cargo exports), also in relation to the E.U. and China, the position of the maritime capital within the inter-imperialist contradictions – taxation, acquisition of ships, bank financing, etc – inter-bourgeois contradictions in relation to the future of Greece within the Eurozone.

 5. The E.U.’s strategy on common shipping policy

The Integrated Maritime Policy for the E.U.’s shipping policy is absolutely combined with the anti-popular Europe 2020 – the anti-popular policy of the E.U. in general. The fundamental elements of the E.U. policy in maritime transport are as follows:

 The enhancement of the European Union’s business groups’ competitiveness, through new benefits and changes in international and E.U. trade law, in order to overcome obstacles in the free movement of capital and to strengthen the course of capital centralization. Combined policies in all fields, in favor of the E.U.’s corporate monopolies, such as in: transport, ports, shipyards, maritime equipment, oil platforms, fisheries, fish farming, tourism, etc.

 6. Imperialistcompetitionandthemerchantfleet

The ship-owners take advantage of their powerful position in international sea transport in order to profit from their participation in the “supply chain” which is connected to the expansion of imperialist plans. The Greek-owned merchant fleet is integrated in the strategic planning of imperialist interventions and wars, as NATO’s Fourth Service.

 The Horn of Africa is a strategic center where powerful naval military forces of the EU, USA and NATO are concentrated, an area where inter-imperialist contradictions with China, Japan, Russia, India, etc are intensified over the control of energy resources and shipping routes (natural gas, oil, etc), in the pretense of the protection of merchant ships from piracy.

 Piracy set up against merchant ships – with tragic consequences upon maritime workers – is the work of capitalist companies that make huge profit out of criminal activity. In the pretense of piracy and “terrorism”, capitalists reinforce repressive state apparatuses and at the same time create special military armed forces for merchant ships, ports and, in general, land and maritime infrastructures, which are used against the labor movement.

 7. The so-called “miracle” of Greek-owned shipping

The augmentation of the Greek ship-owners’ profits is based on the high exploitation rate of maritime workers and the benefits they enjoy from the bourgeois state and the bourgeois governments, through the relative legislation.

 The ships are the outcome of the long work of maritime workers and the working class in general.

 Reality confirms that for as long as the bourgeoisie is in power, the monopolies are in power, the means of production and the resources of wealth are under capitalist property relations, the ships belong to the ship-owners, the development of the economy and shipping is based on profit, the needs of maritime workers cannot be met. The problems will intensify and their living conditions will worsen.

 8. Developments in the Greek coastal shipping

According to the composition of share capital, coastal shipping companies operate as communicating tubes by promoting in a unified manner, without however ceasing the competition between them, a plan for the control of sea lines. The developments in coastal shipping transport are determined by the following fundamental factors:

 a) The abolition of cabotage restrictions (Law 2592/2001) and the intensification of competition promoted the centralization of capital and the creation of large shipping corporate groups that control a big part of coastal shipping transport. Three corporate groups, namely MIG, Grimaldi Group and Sea Star Capital control 85% of the movement in the Aegean lines.

 The capitalist crisis, the subsequent decrease of economic activity, very high unemployment, the absolute and relative impoverishment of the workers and also the increase in ticket prices decrease the movement of transport, causing trouble for the coastal shipping companies that had accumulated significant capitals.

 b) Theship-owners’ aggressiveness was enhanced, the means of transport connecting the islands and the living conditions of maritime workers worsened, ticket prices for passengers and vehicles rose dramatically, resulting in considerable sea transport access restrictions to the common family, islanders, workers and the self-employed.

 c) the problem of overage (over 30 years old) passenger – vehicle ships, which are inadequately repaired, sustains causing great risks for the protection of human life and the environment.

 As to cruise ships, we wish to stress that the demagogic declarations of PASOK (social-democrats) and Nea Dimokratia (conservatists) governments, in the previous years, of today’s three-party government and of the ship-owners have nothing to do with harsh reality. They were asserting that the liberalization of cruises (the abolition of cabotage restrictions) and the support of ship-owners with new benefits would create thousands of job posts for the unemployed and boost tourism to help the self-employed, trade and services.

 Greek corporate groups, European and American monopolies, which dominate tourism and cruises, already enjoy and now claim for more and greater state and community subsidies in order to promote their business plans and acquire land to build hotels, ports, infrastructure and facilities with cheaper underpaid and flexible workers.

 Three countries – Italy, United Kingdom and Germany – represent 64% of the overall employment in cruises in Europe. Greece is mostly a destination country with specific services and a total of 12,100 workers in this sector, of whom 37% work in transport and 13% in manufacture. Direct expenditure for Greece amounts to 605 million Euros and revenue to 234 million Euros.

 9. State financing and tax breaks for shipping companies

The class character of the bourgeois state and the ship-owner-friendly policy of the bourgeois governments is expressed by specific measures on direct financing of shipping companies by state resources (the so-called “sea-loans”), the preservation of a costly apparatus to support the ship-owners’ interests and provocative tax breaks, while at the same time, the political parties of the capital attack by any means labor rights and impose very harsh taxation on maritime workers and the people.

 The ship-owners’ tax liabilities are limited to the ship’s capacity and age taxing pursuant to the “tonnage tax” system and do not depend on their annual revenue and profit. Thus, for example, ship-owners pay an annual tax of only 14,300 Euros for a 40,000 tons ship, which according to the lowest daily freight rate of 8,100 dollars, has a total annual turnover of 2,956,500 dollars from freight.

 According to the data of the Ministry of Economy, the verified “tonnage tax” revenue from ships in 2010 amounts only to 14.7 million Euros. On the other hand, the bourgeois state’s expenditure to support ship-owners and cover the deficits of the Navy Pension Fund (NAT), which they themselves have caused, amounts to 1.5 billion Euros only for 2013.

 The government policy of PASOK and Nea Dimokratia that establishes the ship-owners’ exemptions from contributions has proven disastrous for the Navy Pension Fund. State financial support to the Navy Pension Fund, which has exceeded 15 billion Euros for the period from 1985 until 2012, is an indirect form of financing of the maritime capital and an element of the intensification of the attack against social security rights of maritime workers, namely the cutbacks in pensions.

 The bourgeois state also subsidizes the coastal shipping ship-owners by funding unprofitable shipping lines. This funding was increased tenfold, after the abolition of cabotage restrictions in coastal shipping transport. In the period from 2002 until 2012, ship-owners received in total direct state subsidies for unprofitable shipping lines of about 700 million Euros. For 2012 these subsidies amounted to 125 million Euros with a forecast of 130 million Euros in 2013.

 10. The anti-popular policy’s consequences upon the maritime workers’ rights

This sector’s unemployment is vast. More than 4,300 maritime workers are looking for a job in conditions of savage exploitation by ship-owners’ and private “slave-trading” companies. The decrease in job posts of Greek maritime workers in the period from 2000 until 2010 reached 36.47% – (6,730 jobs), while the Greek-owned merchant fleet increased both in number and capacity.

 During the last five years, 1,900 jobs were lost only in coastal shipping. According to the processed data, we have estimated that Greek maritime workers are 31,000. Also, the shipping sector includes the following workers: 11,401 workers in shipping companies’ offices, 676 workers in naval education and training, 70% of whom work under flexible terms.

 Apart from consecutive reductions of the organic compositions, work without insurance, exploitation of foreign maritime workers without structured rights, work intensification, which are characteristic constituents of anti-maritime workers policy of the PASOK and Nea Dimokratia governments, the attack against maritime workers’ rights escalated in the last years in the name of the capitalist crisis and the memoranda.

 Today, the three-party government (PASOK, Nea Dimokratia, DIMAR-Democratic Left) attempts to impose new, even harsher, anti-working class measures through a relative bill. This bill titled “on the reorganization of the Ministry of Shipping and the Aegean and other provisions” specifies among other things:

 Full abolition of cabotage restrictions, also in coastal shipping.

 Segmentation of the Coastal Shipping Transport Network into exploitation zones, fragmenting the unified nature of coastal shipping and worsening the existing poor island ferry services.

 The ship-owners will determine freight prices and the frequency of ship service on the basis of profit and contrary to the people’s needs.

 Abolition of the mandatory ten-month ship service and maritime workers’ recruitment.

 Abolition of the Collective Labor Agreements and application of individual agreements aiming to demolish the maritime workers’ salaries and labor and social insurance rights. Removal of maritime workers who work in general services (cooks, stewards, etc). This bill reintroduces the concept of “active maritime worker” under stricter criteria (8 months of service for the past 3 years), which is used in order to kick out Greek maritime workers from ships who will be replaced by cheaper working force, without labor rights.

 Abolition of the right to strike of maritime workers through the requisition of ships by the Administrative Committee of Naval Requisitions and Freighting (DENEN), by forcing the strikers “…during “requisition” to cease every… strike action of the crew…”. This provision is actually enforcing long-term civilian mobilization and turns strike actions into illegal acts.

 The benefits to the maritime capital which are established by Law 27/1975 (provocative tax breaks, etc) also apply for shipping companies of rescue ships and tugboats under a foreign flag, regardless of their capacity.

 The ports’ sell out passes to the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (TAIPED), according to the terms of the loan agreements between the government (PASOK, Nea Dimokratia, DIMAR) and the troika (EU – ECB – IMF).

 11. The situation of the maritime workers’ trade union movement

The anti-working class policy that serves the ship-owners’ interests was confronted by the maritime workers with various forms of struggle and numerous strike actions. Their mobilizations contested the state’s repressive forces and the government and ship-owners’ strike-breaking apparatus.

 Undoubtedly, the leading role in the planning and the organization of the maritime workers, the safeguarding of the picket lines and the expansion of workers’ solidarity is held by the class trade union movement, namely the forces which rally round the All-workers’ Militant Front (PAME), the Pan-Hellenic Union of Merchant Navy Engineers (PEMEN), the Pan-Hellenic Union of Merchant Navy Inferior Engineering Crews (STEFENSON), the trade union of Cooks, the trade unions of the Perama Shipbuilding Zone and the Pan-Hellenic Union of NAT Pensioners (PES), with the contribution of the trade union of rescue ships and tugboats and the determined support of the workers.

 The problems caused by the submissive attitude of the employer and government-friendly trade unionism of the Hellenic Seamen’s Federation’s board of administration majority, which is penetrated by a supportive position to the strategy of the maritime capital, the competition of ships and the profit-making of shipping companies, were confronted by this avant-garde action of class forces and the vigorous stance of the maritime workers.

Within the capitalist crisis’s conditions, very significant struggles were carried out and the weakness of the repressive and strikebreaking apparatuses to impede the maritime workers’ fight using “conventional means”, led the governments of PASOK and Nea Dimokratia to use the measure of civilian mobilization.

 The forces of PAME struggle everyday on ships, have strong ties with the workers and call them to contribute, under this position, even more to the organization effort within the place of work, to enhance their participation in the trade unions in order to make them more massive, to change the correlation of power, to defeat the reformist standpoint and the position of the employer and government friendly trade unionism, to strengthen the class movement.

 To enhance the orientation to the concentration of powers in order to overthrow the anti-popular policies and to overthrow the power of capital.

 This basic orientation is a powerful weapon in the hands of the working class, in the hands of the workers. We must more thoroughly grasp this orientation and express it in everyday struggle, with aims that meet the workers’ needs and the needs of the people, such as:

•  Abolition of the loan agreements and memoranda, resistance to the implementation and struggle for the abolition of all anti-popular measures which decrease wages and pensions, impose unbearable taxation and abolish fundamental labor and social insurance rights.

• Defend and implementation of the National General Labor Agreement and the Collective Labor Agreements of Sectors, substantial wage and pension raise. Immediate payment of all unpaid workers.

• Full and stable employment for all, reduction of working time, adaptation of organic compositions to the increased needs of ships.

• Pension conditions that are proper for heavy and arduous professions.

• Substantial measures for the protection of safety, health and life of maritime workers within the context of an exclusively public and free health system, with medical doctors and the necessary nursing staff on ships.

• Exclusively public and free education and post-education with programs of study, technical means and training that meet the demanding requirements of science and technology.

• Substantial protection of the unemployed by a benefit amounting to 80% of minimum wage.

• Abolition of Law 2687/53, the ships’ approving registration acts and the entire anti-working class / anti-democratic legislation. Abolition of the EU regulation 3577/92 and Law 2932/2001 on the liberalization of coastal shipping.

• Modern, safe and cheap coastal shipping transport. Consistent and regular connection of the islands with mainland Greece and connection between the islands throughout the entire year. Reduction of price tickets and freight rates for vehicles by 50%. Exclusively public and safe ports and shipyards in the service of the people.