The Hellenic-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Tourism & Shipping celebrated its 30th Anniversary last Thursday with a commemorative event entitled “1995–2025: Bridging Cultures and Shaping the Future of Hellenic-Chinese Business Relations,” on Thursday, November 20, at the Hellenic Cosmos Cultural Centre.
Distinguished guests ranged from representatives of the Greek Government and the country’s political sphere, officials from national and international chambers of commerce, diplomats, and members of the business community from all sectors of the Greek economy, as well as members of the Chamber.
The event was honored by the presence of Mr. Kostas Karamanlis, Former Prime Minister of Greece, His Excellency Mr. Fang Qiu, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Wu Jincheng, Mayor of Pudong, Shanghai and Deputy Secretary-General of the Shanghai Municipal Government Mr. George Procopiou, Mr. Kyriakos Dermatis, Member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors and Founder of Intermodal, and Mr. Konstantinos Giannidis, President of the Chamber’s Board of Directors, all of whom were presented awards for their contribution to the strengthening of Hellenic-Chinese relations.
Below is a transcript and a link to the video of Mr. George Procopiou’s acceptance speech, which eloquently captured the meaning of the relationship and importance of cooperation between the two countries – and of cooperation in general. Cooperation, not confrontation, should be the motto of our times, he said, in order to navigate the “energy addition” – carbon, coal, crude oil, LNG, natural gas, renewables, hydroelectric, wind, solar, atomic, all of which are needed in parallel – so that civilizations can go ahead and living standards can continue to raise.
A warm thank you to George C. Xiradakis, Vice President, for the invitation.
“A trip of 55 years in shipping. I started with a sailing boat. I was a lover of the sea, because the sea gives us everything, pleasure, food, profits. It is the avenue that connects civilizations. It is a big avenue for all directions. So, the sea is not dividing us. The sea is connecting us, and shipping is the means, the way, that globalization is implemented.
And what is globalization? Globalization is when you buy raw materials or finished goods with only guidance, quality and price. Distance is irrelevant. Why is it irrelevant? Because shipping, being so efficient, the unit cost of transportation is negligible.
So, having this in mind, and starting from the hobby to become business, I started with old ships, so it was inevitable not to visit China. China, 35 years ago, 37 years ago, was a nation which we were considering poor. It was poor in terms of monetary terms, but very rich in human resources and this richness.
When I visited China in 1989 for the first time, I was so impressed by the determination and the motivation of the people. But at that time in the road, there were not cars. It was a river of bicycles going all together.
And suddenly, I was visiting various refineries, trying to find employment of my old tankers. One of our visits in 2000, so 10 years later, the top chartering person said to me, “Mr. Procopiou, your ships are old.” I said, “Yes, and so they are cheaper, that’s why you’re chartering them.” He said, “No, now we want young, modern vessels.”
So, at that time, I phoned from Hong Kong to Hyundai to order my first two ships.
But I said, “Let’s go to see what is here in the Chinese shipyards happening.” So, I went to New Times Shipyard, and they told me, “You know, Mr. Procopiou, we have never built a VLCC. We have never built a Suezmax.”
It was a very capable General Manager. I said, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you. I’ll bring my teams from Japan and Korea that they have now experience.” And we started building ships in China.
So now, after 25 years, I can say that they have ordered in China 160 ships. They have taken delivery of 85 and others are coming, and we have been instrumental for having the Chinese ship building to explode. But at the same time, this is not because of us. We are nothing. It’s because of the determination, the motivation and the belief of the people that there is a better day coming.
And when you talk with the people, with the workers, the welders, the foreman, they say, “Every year, we have a little bit better price, a better salary, better car, better house.” So, we are proud of it.
So, this is why China is progressing so, so fast. Because they are serious.
Politicians want to promise the desirable.
We businessmen, we promise the doable.
The desirable and the doable have an enormous distance.
But unfortunately, most of our system, they give a chance to the promise of the desirable, and that’s why we are making circles around ourselves, and are shooting our foot all the time.
Now we have the most impressive example of the Net Zero Framework. So, when the Net Zero Framework, you know, for the people that they don’t understand what this means, it means a trajectory to go from fossil fuels to other type of fuels that they don’t emit. Who does not want this? Everybody wants this. But you must have the available, this type of fuels.
So, I had made a betting in Cyprus. It was the IMO General Secretary, Arsenio Dominguez. I said, “I bet that this will not fly.” He said, “How come you say that, you dare to say that? All Europe, all China, all big registers, all their countries, are in favor of that.” I say, “Do you know the Greek word kolotumba?” He said, “No, I don’t know what you mean.” Kolotumba is reverse jump.
“This is impossible, what you say. You want to penalize all the vessels to pay?” To give you an example, I say, I’ll explain you why I say all these things.
A Suezmax, the value is 80 million US dollars, and you have 20 years ahead in front of you from your building to pay back this and to make your profits. The taxation or penalty on this Net Zero Framework for the same ship is 260 million US dollars. So, you have to pay three and a half times above the cost of the ship for penalties.
So this, I don’t believe that there are so many idiots in the world to have such a program.
So, I made a bet, 20 to 1, with Andreas Hadjiyiannis, the President of the Cypriot Shipowners, that will not pass. And first China said no, despite that initially. Why? Because they are reasonable people. They see that doable and not the desirable.
So now we run in a period of energy addition, and first is China that has realized that carbon, coal, crude oil, LNG, natural gas, renewables, hydroelectric, wind, solar, atomic, all are needed in parallel. We are talking for energy addition.
The civilizations go ahead. The living standards have to raise. And the target should be how populations will live better, and this is exactly what China does.
So, despite the fact that they are the more advanced in renewables, in every sector of renewables simultaneously, they push all the other forms of energy.
And I do believe that cooperation should be the motto of our times. I wish all the great powers to understand that it is not a period for confrontation. It is a period of cooperation. It is a period for how to raise the living standards of the people. How to make them happy. How to make them to feel safe. How to make families to grow.
So, I want to say a big thank you for your patience in listening to my thoughts. To thank once again, the Institute of how you call it in English, for giving me this award, the chamber for giving me this award.
I believe very much that shipping for Greece is the most vital and most important. But not only for Greece, for everybody that can go. But it happened that we are champions.
And all of us remember the joke when they said to Mao Zedong that the Greeks attacked China. And he asked, “How many are they?” And they said, “10 million.” “And in which hotel are they staying?”
So, for us, this is a great, great achievement, despite being 10 million to compete with the size of fleet of China, having no shipyards, no inbound cargoes, no exports, no support from the government. But I want to say we have lately the support of the Greek banks, which I thank very much.
Thank you.
