At a ministerial conference on seafarers held in Limassol, Greece announced a major investment aimed at revitalizing its maritime workforce and strengthening the long-term competitiveness of its shipping sector.
The Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, Mr. Vasilis Kikilias, revealed that the Greek government will increase funding for maritime education by 25%, allocating an additional €90 million over the next seven years.
Minister Kikilias framed the initiative as a strategic effort to make maritime careers more appealing to younger generations while addressing retention challenges within the profession.
The decision was announced at the Ministerial Conference on Seafarers in Limassol, prompted by the Cypriot Presidency of the Council of the EU. He emphasized that “our goal is to identify opportunities to make maritime education more attractive to the younger generation and to help both female and male seafarers remain in the profession.”
Mr. Kikilias underlined that “we are now seeing young people with many skills working in this vast shipping industry. This adds greater prestige to the profession of the seafarer.
“I constantly speak through social media, trying to convince the core of Greek society, Greek families, that they should once again start discussing with their children the prospect of employment in professions related to the shipping industry and its further development, a sector that offers very high wages while also delivering a significant social impact.”
In this context, the Minister stressed that competitiveness through shipping is a key factor for the country’s development and future. “We need new, fresh European policies and ideas for our ports, for energy, and for the commercial side of shipping, together with our fleet, since maritime trade accounts for 80% to 90% globally,” he noted.
He added:
“We are facing an issue and a challenge. It is not a European problem, but a global one, which varies from society to society and from country to country. You see countries developing, achieving a higher standard of living, and then younger generations turning almost exclusively toward office-based professions. We will try to communicate this and persuade the average Greek, Cypriot, and European family to encourage the younger generation to turn back to the sea.”
On the occasion of the honorary award presented to Captain Panagiotis Tsakos for his long-standing contribution to the broader maritime sector, Mr. Kikilias noted that although he is one of the largest shipowners in the world, everyone still calls him “Captain.” This, he said, is the true recognition for a person who turned his dream into reality, driven by his love for the sea and for seafarers.
In closing, the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy reiterated that in this very difficult and unstable geopolitical and geostrategic period we are going through, “we can emerge from this more resilient and stronger. And I believe we have proven that we can do it. We can rise to the occasion and cooperate at this level. It has to do with vision.
It has to do with the tireless pursuit of goals, with continuous struggle and work. And in this way, you can produce results. Europe is history, it is culture, it is civilization, it is the Western way of life.”
