Piraeus Sees Fewer EU-Flag Cruise Ships

The Greek cruise industry must be liberated from the cabotage law that forbids non-European Union flag cruise ships to use Greek harbors as homeports, according to recently released official figures. The figures are in regards to the number of tourists that arrived in Piraeus by cruise ship for the first five months of the year.

According to the data, cruise passengers that boarded ships with a European Union flag dropped 24 percent during January-May 2009 as 84,274 passengers were recorded, compared with 111,559 passengers in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, during the first five months of the year passengers that arrived to the Piraeus Port on a cruise liner with a non-European Union flag increased by 27 percent as 372,067 passengers were recorded against 292,563 passengers in 2008.

(Editor’s note: EU-flagged vessels may take on and disembark passengers at Greek ports while non-EU flag cruise ships cannot.)

It is also noted that in the first half of 2009 the number of cruise ships to dock at Piraeus dropped from 318 last year to 316.