The Greek and the Norwegian Shipping Industries: Why Are These Two at the Top of the 13 Global Shipping Nations for So Long?

Abstract

We compared Greece with Norway in ship-owning endeavors since 1900. We revealed the common characteristics and properties of the 2 countries, being admittedly in the top 13 positions till nowadays. We revealed also the differ-ences. The countries handled, however, the phenomenon of the flags of convenience differently. Both suffered disastrous events like the Great War, the 1929-1933 depression and the 2 nd WW, which harmed—if not equally—their Merchant Fleets. A random effect we showed to be crucial, however, and this was: the 1975-1987 “tanker & dry cargo depression”. Norway, a par excellence “tanker nation”, till today, felt deeper this tanker depression—and the following dry cargo one—losing part of its fleet. Greece—a “bulk carriers” nation—till today—accelerated its tonnage growth by leaps and bounds, after 1987, and as a result, owned 85 m dwt in March 1988 and 355 m dwt in March 2022! Both countries were poor, agricultural, and small, with no significant own capital, having only good sailors, ship-owners, many islands, and few shipbuilders (especially Norway)! But, they found the way: 1) to become the first merchants and ship-owners, and subsequently only ship-owners; 2) to get rid of their smallness, by targeting at serving the entire seaborne trade; 3) to dominate in an important part of the sea transportation businesses: the “tramp” shipping and the “cross-trading”. There—as shown—the higher but riskier revenue is to be found… We showed also that behind the above achievements, 3 factors are essential: a) to be competitive, b) not to rely too much on flags of convenience (as their correlation coefficient was found very low); and c) to carry out investments in new buildings and/or in 2 nd hand ships, applying mainly the perfect timing strategy