haulage market, and the agreement with China’s
COSCO regarding the Port of Piraeus. Both are
changing market conditions, overturning a chron-
ic and obsolete system and rekindling internation-
al interest in Greece’s potential, especially at a
crucial moment for the Greek economy.
The necessary conditions for the sector’s refor-
mation include the improvement of transport infra-
structures, the development of combined trans-
port and the increase of investments in capital
goods. Thus, our proposal is to ensure that Greek
ports have modern support, storage, tranship-
ment, telecommunication network, manufacturing
and business activity infrastructures, which will
enable them to play an active role in the interna-
tional transportation system. The government
must boldly and decisively get down to moderniz-
ing the operating model of all Greek ports, to
ensure that they cover the needs of the national
economy and serve the wider interests of the
country and its workers. The sector’s entrepre-
neurs should be given assistance through the uti-
lization of NSRF funds, as well as their inclusion
in the new Investment Incentives law, in regard to
truck fleet purchase and renewal.
Moreover, the opening of the market should be
combined with additional qualitative licensing cri-
teria, as well as other measures, such as incen-
tives for fleet renewal, research and the incorpo-
ration of innovations in transport, the further
improvement of the road network and road safe-
ty, as well as environmental protection policies.
Above all, though, the government should estab-
lish new strategies for cooperation with foreign
investors, to the benefit of the Greek economy.
The ACCI has recently presented the government
with a specific proposal for turning Attica —where
most businesses are operating in— into a com-
mercial and transit portal to the countries of the
European Union, through:
•
the creation of modern logistics centres;
•
the upgrading of the Piraeus and Lavrion ports;
•
the redesign and completion of new road axes
that will link the logistics centers and business
parks to the Trans-European Networks.
This infrastructure development plan should also
focus on the creation of an integrated combined
transport system that will facilitate faster and
cheaper freight transport to and from ports, rail-
ways and road axes.
A further impediment to the sector’s modernization
is its aging truck fleet. The average age of trucks in
circulation is 50% higher than in the European
Union (11, as compared to 7 years), while 1.3 mil-
lion vehicles with ages over 20 years are still in cir-
culation (20% of the total number of vehicles in cir-
culation). In this vein, the ACCI has already pro-
posed the government to enact a “targeted fleet
renewal”, with subsidies of €500 per decommis-
sioned vehicle for the replacement of older vehi-
cles (subject to the EURO 0,1,2 emission stan-
dards) with new ones with CO 2 emissions of up to
150 gr/km. These limits are compatible with EU
legislation and technological advances. A further
proposed inventive is to exempt replacement vehi-
cles from the payment of motor vehicle taxes for 5
years (€112/year), a provision that, according to
estimates, could add 40,000 vehicles in the market
annually (a 25% increase).
Our target is the creation of a modern operating
framework in the logistics and supply chain sector,
which will meet European standards, as well as the
market’s current demands. Above all, though, it will
turn Greece into a dominant transit hub in the wider
region of the Balkans and SE Europe, and will cre-
ate new, promising —and urgently needed—
prospects for the Greek economy.
Trade with Greece
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