Greek Powerhouses in Global Shipping: Lloyd’s List 2024

Featuring no fewer than 14 representatives of the Greek shipping community, the 2024 edition of the Lloyd’s List spotlighting the 100 most powerful players in global shipping has just been published.

A number of Greek shipowners are high up on this year’s “One Hundred People” list, but Evangelos Marinakis stands out yet again, as he leaps from 22nd to 16th place in the 2024 rankings. This means he has shot up no fewer than 25 places in the last two years, the highest climb achieved by the 14 Greek shipping magnates on the list.

In first place, we find Arsenio Dominguez, the “extremely effective and popular” Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization.

That Yahya Sare’e, the military spokesman of the Houthis, a group that has appeared as a “significant influencer in shipping’s fortunes this year,” is in second place is indicative of the geopolitical challenges the shipping industry is facing currently.

“The threat posed to global shipping lanes by Yemen’s Houthi rebels is growing dramatically, thanks to an increasingly diverse network of political alliances, military suppliers and financial support networks that now extend through multiple terrorist organizations,” the List notes.

The dark fleet’s place in eighth position in the global rankings is also indicative of the challenging geopolitical context: “Numbering just over 660 ships, this fleet poses a significant risk for the rules-based shipping industry.”

Evangelos Marinakis

A shipping industry veteran with “a bold longer-term vision, who remains a pragmatic deal-maker” is how Lloyd’s of London describes Evangelos Marinakis: “Just as his English football club Nottingham Forest has risen to an exalted position in the Premier League, so mercurial Greek shipowner Evangelos Marinakis has continued ascending our rankings.”

Marinakis wields influence well beyond the narrow shipping sector – in football as well as media in his native Greece.

“But in our industry, the standout reason for this year’s higher place is that his Capital Group has arguably gone beyond any other Greek owner in its ambitious investment in the energy transition required to decarbonize the industry.”

In addition to ordering 18 modern liquefied natural gas carriers, of which six remain on order for delivery in 2026 and 2027, the Group has invested in six midsize gas carriers that can carry ammonia and four unique handysize multi-gas carriers that can carry liquid CO2.

Capital Clean Energy Carriers is poised to become the largest U.S. publicly traded company in the green transition sector.

“There’s no doubt that Capital Group has outperformed every other Greek shipping concern in the ambitious investment program it has undertaken in the light of the energy transition.”

The expanding fleet has been consolidated under the Nasdaq-listed company controlled by Marinakis, the former Capital Product Partners.

Lloyd’s recalls that the rebranded Capital Clean Energy Carriers is on course to have the largest and youngest U.S.-listed fleet of energy-transition vessels.

Capital was one of the five founder shipowner members invited by Lloyd’s Register to launch its new Shipping Emissions Reduction Center in Athens in 2024.

“However, Marinakis’ success has been built on being able to see the forest and the trees. At the same times as committing to the most modern ships, he has an enviable record of profitable sale and purchase deals that keep the Group moving forward,” Lloyd’s notes.

Maria Angelicoussis

Maria Angelicoussis, head of the Angelicoussis Group, is in 12th place, as she was in 2023. She is the highest-placed of the 14 Greek shipowners on the Lloyd’s List, which notes that Maria Angelicoussis is continuing to expand and gradually mold the eponymous family shipping group for a sustainable future.

2024 saw the group diversify successfully into the shuttle tanker business, announcing the takeover of the Altera Shuttle Tankers fleet of 18 tankers in the North Sea, Brazil and off the east coast of Canada in November 2024. It was one of the biggest deals in the 75-year history of the Group.

“The Group has assets of approximately $16.8 billion, of which just over $14 billion represents the book value of its fleet”

Earlier in the year, the Group took its first steps in the sector when it ordered three shuttle tankers in South Korea having won a Petrobras tender. The three ships are expected to be launched in 2027 and 2028, and will likely join the Altera platform.

The Group has assets of roughly $16.8 billion, with just over $14 billion representing its fleet’s book value. Three-quarterly earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation for 2024 were $1.9bn, while the total annual earnings are expected to average $1.8bn over five years.

The 144 ships currently in the Group’s fleet consist of roughly equal numbers of tankers, bulk carriers, and LNG carriers. In addition, there are 23 vessels on order, half of which are LNG carriers. Decarbonization and energy efficiency are top horizontal priorities for the Group.

The Delphic Maritime Training Center is one of the most state-of-the-art in-house training facilities belonging to any shipping company.

George Prokopiou

George Prokopiou is ranked 20th on the list, one place lower than in 2023. Lloyd’s List’s introduction focuses on the Greek shipowner’s involvement in real estate investments.

Prokopiou recently acquired a $160m stake in Vouliagmeni’s iconic Astir Palace resort and is investing a further $500m into a sperate real estate development on the Athens Riviera at Ellinikon, Lloyd’s List reports.

One need only consider his order book for new builds to banish any speculation that Prokopiou might be moving away from shipping.

As of November 2024, the shipowner has orders for just short of 100 vessels.

At the time of writing, contracts have been signed with Dynacom Tankers for 56 tankers and with dry arm Sea Traders for 32 bulkers. Eight 200,000 cubic meter LNG carriers are also under construction from a total order of 14. Dynagas, the Group’s LNG shipping arm, has already taken delivery of the first one. Other recent orders include four suezmax tankers, whose construction will be undertaken by China’s PaxOcean Zhoushan shipyard.

“Compared with the vessels Prokopiou was building twenty years ago, today’s ships clearly belong to a new and far more efficient generation, although all the tankers and bulkers will run on conventional fuel.”

We should note that Prokopiou was quick to realize the potential Northern Sea Route transits would have for LNG carriers, entering the sector many years ago with the construction of sturdy winterized and ice-class LNG carriers.

Dynagas was also first off the mark to commission floating storage and regasification units from Chinese yards—the first they ever built.

Lloyd’s List ends its profile by commenting on Prokopiou’s acquisition of Hellenic Shipyards (Skaramangas), noting that he proceeded with an extensive renovation of the facility which has had an extremely busy first year back in operation.

Angeliki Frangou

Angeliki Frangou is in 24th place, three places lower than in 2023. This year saw the US-listed Navios consolidate its tanker, dry bulk and container vessels into a single diversified fleet which had enabled Frangou to exploit market dynamics to the fullest.

In addition, 2024 was the 70th anniversary of Navios, as well as the 20th anniversary of the listing of International Shipping Enterprises (ISE)—Frangou’s first publicly listed company—on Nasdaq.

“As of November 2024, the listed entity Navios Maritime Partners operates 179 vessels that are owned or under purchase option”

Just weeks later, ISE put in the winning bid for Navios, the US Steel Corporation’s historic shipping subsidiary. Navios was mainly a dry cargo-operating business at the time of its acquisition, when its fleet consisted of just six handymax bulk carriers, with others under long-term charter.

Fast-forward twenty years to November 2024 and Navios Maritime Partners operates a total of 179 vessels which it owns or are under purchase option. With a book value of $5.7 billion, the fleet has 75 dry bulk carriers, 48 containerships and 56 tankers.

Navios decision to consolidate its fleet under a single roof, that of Navios Partners, brought a major diversified shipping company into being which Frangou considers to a better match for today’s shipping cycles and periods of greater than usual volatility such as the present.

As she sees it, a diversified fleet is better able to exploit market dynamics as they manifest themselves, meaning the shipowner no longer has to rely on predictions about the future. Frangou is also of the opinion that diversity enables creativity, but with less risk.

No one could work harder than Frangou, who has successfully guided Navios through an especially turbulent period for the markets, and done so employing traditional shipping stocks, despite being publicly listed. As Lloyd’s List notes, that is a claim few if any companies can make.

Melina Travlos

Melina Travlos, president of the Union of Greek Shipowners, is ranked 26th, down from 25th in 2023. As Lloyd’s List notes, the president of the Union of Greek Shipowners, which was established in 1916 and is now the largest shipowning association in the world, clearly warrants a position of prominence in its annual listing.

As she nears the end of her first three-year term, Melina Travlos has kept her promise to serve as an ambassador for the entire shipping industry and not just for Greek shipping.

That Travlos was asked to deliver the prestigious keynote speech at the International Chamber of Shipping’s net zero event at COP28 in Dubai in December 2023 sheds light on the respect with which she is held by other industry leaders.

“Travlos considers shipping a vital builder of bridges and thus as an engine for global growth and prosperity. As such, the industry is our purpose, our duty, our commitment”

Travlos then seized the opportunity afforded by her influential slot to convey a message of unity. “If we can work together to achieve our shared goals, the prize will be greater than the greening of our industry; it will be the greening of all industries,” she told her audience.

Travlos considers shipping a vital builder of bridges and thus as an engine for global growth and prosperity. As such, the industry is “our purpose, our duty, our commitment.”

As UGS President, she has built on the work started under her predecessor Theodore Veniamis and proved extremely effective at forming and conserving coalitions.

Travlos is often a vocal proponent of brining Greece’s powerful national shipping industry to the nation at large, Lloyd’s List notes. And though her position on the list primarily reflects her UGS role, Lloyd’s List notes that Travlos’s own shipping company is “a paradigm in its own right.”

Indeed, Neptune Lines is Greek shipping’s leading liner operation. As Lloyd’s List notes: “Owning and operating a fleet of 21 pure car and truck carriers which cover an extensive network of routes, it has few if any peers in a country focused mainly on tramp shipping and providing tonnage to charterers.”

The Travlos Group also includes sister companies involved in dry bulk shipping and in onshore logistics.

The other Greeks on the list

As for the other nine Greek entries in the Lloyd’s List 100, these are:

• In 33rd place, we find the Greek shipowner George Economou of the TMS Group, who is also an art collector and technology enthusiast. The TMS Group has one of the largest private newbuilding order books and is looking ahead to a new energy transition partnership with Lloyd’s Register.
• Kostis Konstantakopoulos (35th place), the CEO of Costamare, who continues to increase his footprint in shipping as the Greek company turns 50.
• Star Bulk’s Petros Pappas (37th place), the Greek shipowner who has emerged as one of the few consistent consolidators in the fragmented dry bulk shipping sector.
• GasLog’s Peter G. Livanos (49th), who is increasingly to the fore in exploring CO₂ and hydrogen shipping but remains a force in LNG shipping and dry bulk.
• George Logothetis of the Libra Group (63rd place), who “has thrived for decades using a counter-intuitive mantra: buy expensive and sell cheap”.
• In 76th place is Nikolas Tsakos of TEN (73rd place): “By opening Greece’s first private maritime academy, the Tsakos family has remained true to its maritime roots.”
• Elpi Petraki (83rd place), President of WISTA International, who is seeking better representation for women in the maritime industry. Alongside the IMO, Petraki-led WISTA is running the second Women in Maritime Survey, a critical source of information on gender diversity in the industry.
• Semiramis Paliou of Diana Shipping and Helmepa, (87th place), the experienced shipowner who has broadened the horizons of the two listed shipping companies she runs.
• In 98th place is Professor Costas Grammenos, of Bayes Business School, who “has guided and educated the most successful executives across the shipping industry for decades”.

Source: tovima.com