Greek-British Shipping Forum 2011

The Greek-British Shipping Forum 2011 will take place on Tuesday 29 November at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Athens. Organised jointly by UK Trade & Investment and Maritime London,  the Forum will bring together experts from the UK and Greece to discuss common challenges and the solutions that London can offer as a Global Maritime Centre.

Forum themes include debt restructuring and refinancing, environmental challenges in the shipping industry and legal and insurance aspects of piracy and & BALTEX (the Baltic Exchange’s new electronic marketplace).

For further information, contact trade.athens@fco.gov.uk

Media interested in attending are kindly requested to contact Communications & Media Office (tel: 210 7272 651, information.athens@fco.gov.uk).

Draft programme [PDF]

Notes for Editors

Maritime London
Maritime London is a not for profit promotional body for UK based companies which provide professional services to the international shipping industry.  Funded by around 100 companies and organisations from a wide range of disciplines, Maritime London’s role is to help ensure that the UK remains a world-beating location for maritime-related business.

Maritime Services in the UK
The City of London is the world’s leading centre in the supply of a wide range of financial and professional services to international shipping including banking, insurance, shipbroking, legal and accounting services, ship classification and publishing. In particular:

• 50% of the world’s tankers and 30-40% of the world’s dry cargo is fixed through London’s c. 400 shipbroking firms. In addition, they are involved in more than half of the world’s sale and purchase of new and second-hand tonnage. Shipbrokers are represented by the Baltic Exchange, the world’s only independent source of maritime market information for the trading and settlement of physical and derivatives contracts.
• London remains the world leader in international marine insurance, with 17% of global premiums and a significantly greater share of the reinsurance market.
• The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) is based in London and all its members have representative offices there. Lloyd’s Register,  the second largest Class Society in the world with some 18% of the world’s classed fleet, has its headquarters in London.
• There are about 30 law firms in the UK, specialising in shipping and maritime disputes. English law contracts dominate the global market, as they are acknowledged for being fair and transparent.  Legal, supported by a well-established and very capable arbitration and dispute resolution service, forms the hub of the UK cluster.
• The Protection & Indemnity (P&I) clubs operating in the UK, account for more than 60% of the global market.
• The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and other important industry organisations, such as the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), BIMCO, Intertanko and many others are headquartered in London.
• The UK is also very strong in marine education. Some of the UK’s leading Universities offer specialist courses in engineering, naval architecture, economic, financial, legal and scientific aspects of marine education and research.