ATHENS – Ruling the world in their sector, Greece’s essentially tax-free shipping oligarchs are pouring their riches back into acquiring more new and used ships to add to their fleets in a $15.8 billion spending spree.

That was the estimate this year from Clarksons shipbrokers which said that $9 billion went toward new ships and $6.8 billion for used vessels, increasing their distance from the second-place Chinese who are challenging them.

Shipowners worldwide are prospering during the COVID-19 pandemic at the same time those used to transport goods haven’t been able to keep up with rising demand for goods, creating supply chain problems.

The owners will spend $147 billion this year worldwide for vessels, double the $74 billion in 2020 when the Coronavirus was spreading around the planet. The figure is 46 percent more than the average amount of $100 billion spent in each of the three previous years (from 2017 to 2019), Clarksons said, according to Kathimerini.