UGS press release: Ship-owner Laskaridis expressed own personal views

The influential Union Greek Shipowners (UGS) on Monday issued its position regarding the recent inflammatory statements by well-known ship-owner and benefactor Panos Laskaridis, who heads up the Laskaridis family’s shipping and business interests.

Laskaridis appears in a video segment, part of a independent documentary on shipping’s impact on the environment and its carbon “footprint”, as being dismissive and condescending of the Greek state and whatever government benefits and favorable policy towards Greece’s ocean-going shipping sector – the largest national stake globally.

The press release reads:

“The UGS’s position on the recent statements made by Mr. Panos Laskaridis

These days, unacceptable statements by a prominent member of the Greek shipping community, Mr. P. Laskaridis, who is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS), the institutional, representative body of Greek shipping, have come to light, for which Mr. Laskaridis has already provided public explanations.

As President of the UGS and representing its Board of Directors in its entirety, but also personally as a Greek citizen, I feel obliged to unequivocally state that, in any event, what Mr. Laskaridis has claimed express his own personal views, which we, in any event, unambiguously condemn and which do not reflect the genuine and deep patriotic feelings of the UGS.

The Greek shipping community respects and honours the Greek Prime Minister, the members of the Greek government and its officials, advocating consistently the politically impartial character of shipping as a national asset for the country.

For the Greek ocean-going shipping, it is a choice, but also a moral duty, to maintain close ties with the homeland through time and to have at the country’s disposal the strategic advantages that stem from the Greek shipping industry’s quantitative and qualitative superiority, ranking first in Europe and globally. Tangible proof of the above is the fact that the State and the Greek shipping family share.”