The Greek shipping community throughout the decades has contributed with social welfare initiatives to the prosperity of Greek society, readily and systematically, both on an individual and collective basis. The amalgam of this work was the establishment, in 2016 by the UGS, of SYN-ENOSIS, the non-profit Greek Shipowners’ Social Welfare Company. SYN-ENOSIS is the permanent vehicle and a solid reference point for the collective social responsibility of Greek shipowners.

As shipping and society are tied together, the aim of SYN-ENOSIS is to contribute to the Greek society by supporting numerous social welfare programmes and activities for vulnerable social groups, as well as projects of public interest.

Thousands of Greek families of poor economic means are being provided with food aid and other essentials on a monthly basis. The National Health Care System has been strengthened and upgraded through multiple but targeted action. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Greek shipping community provided the country’s hospitals with much- needed medical equipment, consumables and ambulances. The UGS’ work on Health Care continues with the renovation of sanitary facilities of public hospitals and general upgrade of the hospitals’ infrastructure.

The UGS, through SYN-ENOSIS, actively supports the needs of the National Defense and Civil Protection services. This support includes donations of vehicles for the Hellenic Police, fire-fighting vehicles and equipment to the Fire Brigade, high-speed boats of the highest technological equipment to the Hellenic Coast Guard, maintenance of military helicopters and many other.

For the UGS, education is also at the top of areas of interest. It has, therefore, recently announced the biggest ever scholarship programme for postgraduate studies. More specifically, for the academic year 2023- 2024, the UGS, through its programme “+ENOSIS for Education”, offers 100+1 scholarships to students for postgraduate courses in Greece and abroad. This initiative illustrates even further the close ties of the Greek shipowning community with the Greek society and its special interest in the younger generation.