Greek Shipping Earnings and Investment Expenditure : Exploring the Pre & Post 'Ordering-Frenzy' Period

The influx of shipping receipts from the world's leading fleet has been critical for the development of the Greek economy. Following the disastrous September of 2008, the range and speed of the shift in direction of the freight rates, combined with the general economic and credit climate, have had a significant impact on Greek receipts from shipping. The paper investigates both the long and short term responses of shipping flows in the Greek balance of payments on the basis of monthly data. It also assesses the change in Greek ship-owners' investment expenditure from 2006 onwards. The paper presents estimations of the impact of freight market determinants on the shipping inflows through the construction of a unique Greek shipping freight rate index. The shipping outflows are influenced by the developments in the loans outstanding and the second-hand vessels' price index. The findings provide also evidence in favour of a change in the investment expenditure of the Greek shipping companies as well as of an increasing significance of the Greek ship financing cluster after 2006