Mitsotakis – Electric ships target the islands

The idea for electric ships that will connect the Greek islands was expressed by the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking live with the journalist Adam Boulton, on the television network Sky News, immediately after his speech at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) in Glasgow.

At the same time, he estimated that hydrogen will be a fuel that will be used by “green” shipping, while he reiterated his initiative to create a research center for marine fuels.

In particular, responding to Adam Boulton’s remark that “shipping is one of the activities most responsible for emissions at the moment”, the Greek Prime Minister defended the role of shipping as the most environmentally friendly mode of transport, noting: “let put things in perspective. 90% of world trade is done by ship. Shipping is responsible for 3% of world emissions. It’s not trivial, but it’s not huge. We must take our share. Shipping should take its share. But it is not clear what technology will solve the problem. That’s why we need more research and development (R&D). We need to focus more on the solutions that are being developed at the moment. ”

He also estimated that “hydrogen is probably the most likely scenario” for the promotion of ships in the future and added that “we are the managers and we should work with the shipyards, we should work with the manufacturers of large engines. They are the ones who will guide the technological innovations. Shipping will be the customer of the technology they will produce. But at the same time we need to have a vision for the future of shipping. That is why we are setting up, in cooperation with the European Union, a research institute to explore the future of sustainable shipping. Because, honestly, at the moment we do not have the answer “.

Finally, referring to tourism and island connections, he announced in advance that on Friday he will be “on a small Greek island, Halki, which is located a short distance from Rhodes. There I will present a complete solution on how to decarbonize a relatively small island. We have already implemented a very interesting project on another island, Astypalea, in collaboration with Volkswagen, where we are essentially turning the island into an electrification laboratory. The islands do not consume that much energy.”

To the journalist’s remark that flights consume energy, the Greek Prime Minister replied that “flights consume, but this is another story. But when we talk about shipping and short-haul ships, for example, one might imagine that these ships could be electric in the future.”