THE SOCIAL WELFARE CONTRIBUTION OF GREEK SHIPPING

Traditionally, Greek Shipowners have supported our country in multiple ways. The Greek shipowning community is the first and only industrial sector to have established a collective vehicle, SYN-ENOSIS, a non-profit Greek Shipowners’ Social Welfare Company, for its social welfare contribution, uniting all under a common cause. The results of a recent report^[14]are striking: shipowners’ donations to welfare projects, individually and collectively, are estimated at over 400 million U.S. dollars per annum in recent years.

Public Health, Education, Coast Guard and Armed Forces are only some of the beneficiaries of the UGS support, while Food Aid programmes remain also a priority. The UGS has already offered more than 130 million euros in welfare projects, while timely responding to national crises. In the unprecedented floods in Thessaly, it managed to raise immediately over 50 million euros for the restoration of the affected areas, through its aid programme “Agios Nikolaos”^*.

In cooperation with the Greek Government, the UGS undertook the restoration of 33 damaged schools as well as of archaeological sites and religious monuments. The UGS also proceeded with the upgrading and renovation of public hospitals’ infrastructure together with other actions in the area with targeted initiatives benefiting vulnerable groups of people, such as children and elderly people.

Placing particular attention to the young generation, the UGS has established one of the largest scholarship programmes in Greece. Last year, it granted 111 postgraduate scholarships to young women and men, who excelled in their studies for postgraduate studies in Greece and abroad and for the academic year 2025-2026 another 130 scholarships. The data below are a clear demonstration of UGS’ multifaceted and important social welfare work for 2024-2025.

[14] McKinsey and Company, Greek shipping: Success factors and opportunities, July 2024
* The Programme is named after Saint Nicholas (in Greek “Agios Nikolaos”), the patron Saint of seafarers and Greek shipping