Perama Clinic

That’s evident at the Medecins du Monde clinic in Perama, Athens’ poorest suburb. It provides free medical help to locals without access to Greece’s health system and has seen its patient numbers double since it opened in 2010 amid the erosion of state health coverage.

As social pressures mount, the privileged tax status of the shipping industry has come under increasing scrutiny as successive Greek governments look to boost revenue. The industry pays no tax on international earnings brought into the country under rules incorporated in Greece’s constitution in 1967.

Constitutional Cover

“All these laws are to protect ship management companies that serve mostly international trade and commerce,” said Ilias Bissias, a lecturer in international shipping policy at Alba Graduate Business School in Athens. “This regime should not be changed as it is similar and in line with international tax laws that exist in most maritime centers in all parts of the world.”

Even with this constitutional cover, the Union of Greek Shipowners reached a voluntary agreement with the previous government in October to double the tax paid by the industry in the three years from 2014.

Whether that will be enough for the country’s new anti- austerity Syriza-led government isn’t clear. In a February letter to creditor institutions, Greece Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said the new regime will “ensure that all sections of society, and especially the well-off, contribute fairly to the financing of public policies,” as part of reforms that secured the continued availability of bailout funds for Europe’s most indebted country.

Formidable Reputation

“Shipping together with tourism are the two main sources of income for the country,” said Eurofin’s Zolotas. “The government would be ill-advised to make it less attractive for ship owners to remain in Greece because ship owners are providers of a lot of employment.”

With limited demand from their domestic market, Greek ship owners have long looked beyond home shores for business. While it’s helped shelter them from the worst of the Greek crisis, the industry is still fraught with challenges.