ECONOMY

Greeks remain at the helm of global shipping industry

The inclusion of 14 Greek shipowners in the world’s Top 100 compiled by Lloyd’s List for 2012 confirms that the Greek shipping industry remains at the helm of the global market.

Among the top five most influential people in the industry, John Angelicoussis is at No 4 and George Economou at No 5.

They are followed by Angeliki Frangou (18), Peter Livanos (26), Giorgos Prokopiou (28), Victor Restis (56), Constantinos Constantakopoulos (60), Simeon Palios (63), Nikos Tsakos (72), Theodore Veniamis, the head of the Hellenic Shipowners’ Association (75), Professor Costas Grammenos of City University London (81), Dimitris Melissanidis (82), Evangelos Marinakis (84) and Peter Georgiopoulos (90).

According to data by the industry newspaper, Greek shipowners have spent $3.8 billion on the acquisition of vessels this year. Taking advantage of the major opportunities which are emerging in shipping as a result of the decline in ship prices, Greek companies have acquired 211 vessels.

Allied ShipBroking data indicate that in the year to November, Greek shipowners had spent $3.7 billion on the purchase of ships, down from $4.1 billion in the same period last year. However, the figures show that in the first 11 months of this year, Greek shippers bought almost the same number of vessels (just 14 fewer) while spending about $400 million less than last year.

Chinese shipowners have shown a greater interest in new building projects than their Greek counterparts this year, with a total of 125 new orders (down from 244 last year), accounting for 23.5 percent of all orders against 13.5 percent for Greeks.

Greeks’ investment in new ships posted a 32 percent decline in the January-September 2012 period from the first nine months of last year, with dry-bulk carriers taking the lion’s share with 48 new orders, although even that was 26 percent lower than in 2011.

The Greeks remained at the top of all shipping nations in the first 11 months of 2012, absorbing 22 percent of sales of dry-bulk carriers (up from 15 percent last year), 20 percent of tankers (from 15 percent in 2011) and 23 percent in container ships – the only sector to register an investment decline both in ships and in funds invested.

Out of the 211 ships purchased by Greeks in the first 11 months this year, 106 were dry-bulkers, 75 were tankers and 30 container ships.

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