Greeks dominate list of biggest shipping magnates
Greek shipowners dominate the list of the 100 most important personalities in global shipping compiled by Lloyd’s List, with John Angelicoussis topping the chart and another 14 Greeks included in the elite rankings.
That’s a total of 15 Greek figures in the British-based daily newspaper’s top 100 list – about the same share as the 16 percent of global shipping capacity that Greeks control. Lloyd’s List has retained Angelicoussis at the top of the list as his group remains the biggest in terms of ship numbers: 45 dry-bulk carriers and 41 tankers.
Besides the head of the Angelicoussis Shipping Group, the top 10 also includes Angeliki Frangou of Navios and George Economou of DryShips in eighth and ninth respectively. Navios recently added 50 ships to its fleet, confirming its rapid growth, while Navios Europe yesterday announced it had reached an agreement with HSH Nordbank for the acquisition of five tankers and five container ships, totaling 219 million euros.
DryShips has managed to stay afloat despite the crisis in the dry-bulker and tanker markets where it is active. OceanRig, a DryShips subsidiary in the very profitable oil platform sector, has also contributed to the major role the parent company is playing in global shipping.
Peter Livanos and George Prokopiou are in 22nd and 23rd spot respectively, with the head of the Union of Greek Shipowners, Theodoros Veniamis, taking the 51st spot. Constantinos Constantakopoulos, who is continuing the family tradition in the container shipping sector, ranks 57th, with Nikos Tsakos in 61st.
The other Greek shipowners in the top 100 are Peter Georgiopoulos (69th), Evangelos Marinakis (73rd), Symeon Palios (77th), Petros Pappas (80th), John Platsidakis (83rd), Dimitris Melissanidis (94th) and Haralambos Fafalios (96th).
