On Thursday 22nd March 2018, the 36th General Assembly of HELMEPA Members took place, in accordance with the Association’s Constitution. The Assembly, which was chaired by Dr G. Gratsos with acting Secretaries Ms V. Kallipolitou of Tsakos Columbia Shipmanagement (TCM) S.A. and Mr C. Piperas of Chartworld Shipping Corporation, was hosted by CERES Shipping, at their premises, in Piraeus.

The Assembly unanimously approved the activities of 2017 presented by the Director General, Mr D. C. Mitsatsos. The Treasurer of the Board, Mr Ν. Bafaloukos, described the overall financial operation during the past year, while the auditors, Moore Stephens S.A., presented their relevant report. The Assembly approved the 2017 financial operation, released the Directors and auditors from any responsibility for the financial management of last year and elected Moore Stephens S.A. as the 2018 auditors.

The secret ballot that followed resulted in the election of the following Members of the new Board, in alphabetical order:

Bafaloukos Nicolas
Beis Athanassios
Chandris Marietta-Antonia
Daifas Irene
Dalacouras Michael
Gratsos George
Karageorgiou George
Ladas Ilias
Los Aikaterini
Matthaiou Dimitrios
Paliou Semiramis
Pittas Aristidis
Xylas John
Zachariadis Panagiotis, and
Chalas John, General Secretary of the Panhellenic Seafarers’ Federation (PNO), permanent Board Member
Alternate Members are the following, in alphabetical order:

Andreou Gabriel
Avlonitis Evangelos
Dimitriou Constantinos
Pafliotis Theofilos
Vlachos Spyridon

The elected Members will meet on Tuesday 27 March 2018 in order for the new Board to be formed according to the Constitution.

The Assembly of the Members of HELMEPA came to a close with a light buffet kindly offered, as always, by CERES Shipping.

Two warships and a submarine sailed to the port of Piraeus in view of the national anniversary of 25 March 1821.

The attendance was admittedly great from all ages, but also from visitors outside of Greece. In particular, Maritimes.gr spoke with a family from Austria who came to Greece and are well aware of what this feast means for the Greeks "The Greeks, in 1821, chose March 25th, in the Annunciation of Theotokos to revolt and free yourself, "said Alina Berwein from the deck of the" Grigoropoulos " warship.

He also spoke of the additional reason he wanted to visit with his parents and brother Leo, the ships and the submarine: "My grandfather served in the Second World War on a submarine in the North Sea and wanted to see how it is." For Greece the Berwein family has the best impressions and visits it often.

Regarding how a teenage girl perceives the United Europe and how she envisions her future, Alina stresses that "The different cultures of the European Union are something positive, through this diversity we will become better. Like the mindset, to learn and respect the different attitudes, for example, hospitality in Greece is something unique. "

Leo and Alina Berwein

On Friday, 16 March 2018, more than 250 WISTA Hellas members and friends gathered at the Intercontinental Hotel for our Association’s annual Gala Dinner.

The Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy Mr. Panagiotis Kouroublis was represented by Ms. Maria Kyriakou and Ms. Kelly Karamessini. Guests of honour were  Mr. Giannis Plakiotakis, Head of Sector at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy of Nea Dimokratia, Mr. Charalambos Simantonis President of the Hellenic Shortsea Shipowners Association, Mr. George Pateras, President of the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping, Captain Manolis Tsikalakis President of P.E.P.E.N, Mr. George Xiradakis, President of the International Propeller Club, Port of Piraeus, Ms. Despina Papastelianou, President of “ARGO” and Mr. Yannis Perlepes, General Manager of NAFTEMPORIKI; as well as press officers from the maritime industry.

The evening started at the foyer with a welcome drink which set a great atmosphere for the attendees to meet and network.  After Angie Hartmann, President of WISTA Hellas, welcomed everyone on behalf of the Board of Directors, a video was shown depicting WISTA Hellas’ highlights over the past two years in the form of a photographic and musical journey. After the dinner, a lucky raffle draw was held with gifts donated by the Association’s supporters.  The evening ended on the dance floor where guests enjoyed themselves until the early morning hours.  An evening to remember.

The Board thanks all members and friends who attended and once again helped make the event a great success.

 

It was a relief to see the consolidation that took place in the shipping markets in 2017, which in turn has led to a healthier market and a stronger outlook for 2018.

 The energy sector, however, remains complicated with the LNG market rising, tankers falling, coal volumes up, and shale the wild card. All in all, more transaction volumes (demand) plus more controlled tonnage (supply) leads us to conclude that the year ahead of us will be more and more balanced. Yard consolidation has also continued (from 680 yards in 2007 to 300 today), which has meant upward pressure on newbuilding prices.

This year has seen the confirmation of three major changes to the shipping market whose implications, and whether they will be disruptive or evolutive, have yet to be settled:

1) the awareness that shipping is a major contributor to CO2 and sulphur emissions;
2) the fact that all shipping markets, and thus the landed costs of many trades, are based on broker indices; and
3) a recognition of the need for transaction traceability for compliance, sanctions, tax and reliability purposes. Regulations imposed on national companies by international organizations are by defi nition hard to enact and even harder to enforce.

The industry is making small steps, but there is a large differential building between those who embrace the targets and the others who try to circumnavigate or delay them. Geopolitical events complicate planning and decision-making, as oil at $40 a barrel leads to radically different decisions than oil at $75 a barrel. Such decisions range from immediate scrapping for heavy consumers, to conversion to dual-fuel engines, to newbuildings with full LNG-capable engines, or simply ultra-slow speeding. Our markets will be infl uenced by the ultimate proposals of the engine/ ship designers; what fuel qualities the energy companies can provide effi ciently; the political decisions of the major oil producers; and of course the fuel price which emerges from these developments, as all the while the climate conundrum unfolds.

The Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) bought the Baltic Exchange at the end of 2016 and with it the right to publish all the shipping indices used as benchmarks for pricing, plus the settlement numbers used for derivatives and increasingly also for term physical transactions. The indices were developed by shipbrokers to allow a tanker and dry cargo shipping derivative market to fl ourish. The indices were extended into all sectors in response to a real need for transparency and objectivity. The industry is now faced with a realization that the indices less and less refl ect shipbrokers’ objective opinion of the state of the market, but rather more and more what the clients are showing to the market.

Who owns the indices? The cargo owners who transact (in which case the compliance offi cers will have a serious issue to resolve; transacting using an index which you infl uence), the shipbrokers who supply objective appraisals of how they see their markets (but they are seeing a smaller and smaller share), or the Singapore Exchange (in which case with what authority, as any major news provider could compile them, albeit with less objectivity and sentiment as the users who rely on them would quickly learn to feed the provider and thus infl uence the indices). Direct fi xing using indices is now the majority of dry bulk transactions.

On the major ore routes, which represent over 50\% of the dry cargo market, we estimate less than 10\% is fi xed through brokers or disclosed. The CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight) net back prices of commodities are even more dependent on the indices. Price disclosure that used to be done by establishing bids and offers on the market is no longer necessary as the indices serve as price references. End users can now price their freight (and the landed cost of their commodity) on their own ships without going to the market.

Could this be the reason why a majority of the dry cargo orderbook in 2017 constituted orders by, or for, end users and traders. Traditional owners are having a harder and harder time justifying investing against returns based on purely indices. Is this a natural inevitable evolution or are we headed to an uneven playing fi eld where the giants are able to control the total commodity chain? We better figure it out before there is a revolution, but the evolution is already well advanced. Whether it is the Panama Papers, national tax laws, Brexit, terrorist funding, sanction enforcement, the future need for traceability and accountability is growing. Various maritime initiatives are underway with Silicon Valley targeting the huge transaction volumes in all aspects of the maritime sector.

The complexity of cross border trades and payments, coupled with the even more complex interaction between the participants, screams for transparency, speed and simplification. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies are heralded as potential solutions but with the complex web of essential maritime links, the chain will look more like a cobweb than an anchor chain. Our industry has major challenges ahead but we are confident that it will continue to grow in order to transport safely, efficiently and cheaply, with participants finding solutions to overcome climate, transparency and transaction hurdles. Maybe not in one go, but slow and steady like a ship tracing its own wake. Evolving not disrupting.
Source: BRS Annual Review, Tim Ford, President

SHIPOWNERS Aleco N. Goulandris and Basil M. Mavroleon have been inducted into the Greek Shipping Hall of Fame.

The two historic industry personalities were revealed as the Inductees for 2017 in front of more than 600 guests at a special Induction Ceremony & Dinner held at the Megaron, The Athens Concert Hall.

Voting for Inductees takes place annually and is open to members of the Greek Shipping Hall of Fame Academy, currently numbering about 300 prominent individuals in today’s Greek shipping community. The integrity of the on-line voting and the final results are overseen by the international audit firm, Deloitte.

Aleco N. Goulandris (1927-2017)

ALECO Goulandris, who passed away last year, was the last surviving of the founders of the N.J. Goulandris group, as well as a noted art collector and philanthropist.

Together with his twin Leonidas (1927-2009) and older brother (and Greek Shipping Hall of Fame Inductee) John N. Goulandris (1923-2011), Aleco established N. J. Goulandris Ltd in 1953 as a spin-off from the existing Goulandris family shipping business begun in the 19th century.

The new company was named after their father Nicholas and quickly became a leader in post-World War Two Greek shipping. It was among the first international shipowners to turn to Japanese shipyards and established a high-quality fleet of oil tankers. But it also had a continuing interest in dry cargo ships and was the first Greek shipowner with newly-built bulk carriers, thanks to two vessels delivered in 1956.

Aleco Goulandris was highly supportive to his home island of Andros, but was also a national benefactor. Unknown to most Greeks, he quietly sponsored many concerts at the Athens Concert Hall.  Other causes he funded in recent years included assembling a new legal case for returning the Parthenon Sculptures from the British Museum, and an ambitious renovation of the historic steel battleship Georgios Averof.

Basil M. Mavroleon (1900-1978)

BASIL Manuel Mavroleon gained his early experience in shipping at Rethymnis & Kulukundis, the pivotal company for Greek shipping interests in London prior to the Second World War.  He soon became one of the leading lights of R&K as well as a leading shipbroker active at the Baltic Exchange.

After the war, he established the Mavroleon Brothers shipping firm and launched London & Overseas Freighters, which was co-owned with the Kulukundis family. His many claims to fame including leading LOF to a listing on the London Stock Exchange in 1951, more than 30 years before any other Greek shipping company was publicly traded.

LOF later acquired the Sunderland shipbuilder Austin & Pickersgill and Mavroleon conceived the idea to build an economic dry cargo replacement for the aging fleet of wartime Liberty ships.

He personally inspired the design of the new 14,000 dwt dry cargo ships known as ‘SD 14s’, many of which were built at A&P. In all 211 SD 14s were built in the UK and under licence in Brazil, Argentina and Greece, including 27 at Hellenic Shipyards, making it the most popular of the various Liberty replacements. Buyers included many Greek owners.

The Inductees for 2017 will shortly be featured with full biographies and other media in the Greek Shipping Hall of Fame, which resides at www.greekshippinghalloffame.org

An independent organisation established to bring the fascinating story of Greek shipping to a wider public, the Greek Shipping Hall of Fame has been paying tribute to leading personalities from Greece’s past shipping history since 2007.

With the addition of Aleco N. Goulandris and Basil M. Mavroleon, the Hall of Fame now includes 28 outstanding personalities of the shipping world.

 

Technology and the digital economy are developing at breakneck speed, and disrupting the world of business.