Hellenic Shipowners Association: Support and “green” renewal of the tugboat fleet

The value of tugboats for the information and smooth cognition of European ports, arsenic well arsenic the request to boost investments for the renewal of the fleet with “green” technologies and exigency equipment, dominated the missive sent by the Association of Tugs, Salvage, Antipollution and OSVs to the European Commission’s nationalist consultation connected the caller European Ports Strategy.

The Association underlined that tugboats represent captious infrastructure for the extortion of people, ships, installations and the environment, while requesting an explicit proviso successful the caller Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034 for targeted support done European and nationalist fiscal tools.

In view of the mentation of the European Ports Strategy, the Union underlined the peculiar value of tugboats successful ensuring larboard safety, ships successful European ports, the lives of crews and passengers, the extortion of the marine situation arsenic well arsenic the extortion of larboard facilities, which contributes, among different things, to their competitiveness. The relation of tugboats successful the information of ports, arsenic captious and vital infrastructures, from immoderate benignant of menace that could exploit immoderate inadequacy of European ports successful providing harmless towing services, was besides highlighted.

Pavlos Xiradakis, President of the Association, stated:

“With our publication to the European Commission, we question to guarantee that the caller European Ports Strategy will admit and support the important relation of tugs successful the smooth cognition of the maritime transport concatenation and successful ensuring information and information successful European ports. Tugs are besides a cardinal origin successful the subject supply concatenation and mobility, highlighting their added value for Europe’s resilience and strategic autonomy.

I judge that it is clip for the European Commission to see establishing a model of basal rules for harmless towing astatine a pan-European level.

It is besides a information that the modernisation of tugs successful the discourse of the greenish transition will lend successful galore ways to ensuring harmless towing services. We expect the European Commission to take the due decisions to strengthen the tugboat assemblage done its inclusion successful the caller Multiannual Financial Framework 2028–2034 arsenic well arsenic different fiscal instruments.”