Greek Coastal Shipping: Status, Prospects, and Investment Opportunities  
Shipping within the Greek coastal system has been an important activity throughout the course of history. Evidence exists that boats sailed the Aegean as early as the Stone Ages (about 13,000 BC). The Minoan civilization of Crete (1,600 BC) was the first European civilization that seriously practiced trade with the islands and the mainland. Ships were crucial in the Athenians' defeat of the Persian Empire (480 BC) and in the establishment of their own empire. Coastal shipping played important roles in the Macedonian, Roman, and Byzantine civilizations.
Yet, for all its long history and steady evolution across the centuries, Greek coastal shipping is about to experience unprecedented changes within the next decade or so. One of these is the removal of cabotage privileges in 2004. Another is the mandatory renewal of an ageing ferry fleet. The project on Greek Coastal Shipping has been an attempt to record the current state of the system, highlight the changes, and give a sample of the pertinent analysis that can be made to investigate their impact. The project ("Greek Coastal Shipping: Status, Prospects, and Investment Opportunities") was carried out by NTUA in 1993 and was sponsored by the Hellenic Industrial Development Bank. 
The project touched upon the following issues:
1. Analysis of the status quo: Fleet, ports, traffic, legislation.
2. Analysis of future prospects: Demand analysis, impact of High Speed Craft, modal split analysis, impact of 2004.
3. Analysis of investment opportunities: Economic prospects of HSCs.
4. Conclusions and recommendations.