Greek Owners and Operators Favor Liberian Flag

LIiberia has become the flag of choice for Greek ship owners and operators, according to Liberian Registry.

Figures produced by the Greek publication Shipping & Finance, which bases its findings on data from the Marine Information Services database for Greek and Cypriot shipping companies, confirm that the Greek merchant fleet now includes 800 Liberian-flag ships.

This is ten more than registered under the Greek flag, and 300 more than are registered under the flag of Panama, the registry said.

“Liberia’s dominant presence in the Greek shipping sector owes much most recently to the efforts of Michalis Pantazopoulos, Senior Vice-President of LISCR (Hellas) SA in Piraeus, and to the continuing support of Capt Nick Soutos, President of the Soutos Group of Companies and Consul-General of Liberia in Greece since 1971.

“Greece remains the undisputed number one shipping nation in the world, and it is appreciable that it has demonstrated its continuing faith in the world’s leading open ship registry in such a transparent way,” said Scott Bergeron, CEO of the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry (LISCR), the US-based manager of the Liberian Registry.