Greece’s domestic passenger and vehicle shipping companies need to merge or co-operate to survive, says a report.

The five biggest players, which between them carry about 10 million people to Greek islands and Italy each year, have racked up EUR 881.5m ($1.18bn) of pre-tax losses since 2009, Piraeus-based XRTC Business Consultants calculated in an annual report on the sector.

Shrinking passenger traffic in depression-struck Greece, soaring fuel costs and sharp competition hit the industry as it was coping with debt repayments on a largely bank-financed fleet-renewal programme, which has lowered its average age to 16.7