Despite the decrease in the number of ships, the fleet under Greek management still ranks first in world according to Clarksons.
Greece's merchant fleet still ranks first in the world both in number of ships with 20% of the world's fleet, and about 15% of its capacity, according to Clarksons.
According to Allied ShipBroking, Greek shipowners were the leaders in ship buying and selling in 2011. The tonnage of merchant ships (over 100 GRT) under the Greek flag increased to 43,397.6 in December 2011 from 43,364.3 in November 2011 – and compared with 27,328 thousand GRT in December 2000.
However, the number of ships under Greek flag fell significantly, to 2,014 in December 2011 from 2,096 vessels in December 2010.
The annual decrease in the number of ships came from a decline in the number of freighters, tankers and passenger vessels. This decline is mainly due to the withdrawal of older vessels and the incorporation of newer and bigger vessels.
In 2011 and 2010, 30 percent of ships under the Greek flag were under 10 years old. At the same time, the number of ships over 30 years old reduced to 776 in December 2011, down from 805 in December 2010.