The economic publication New Money rates Greek shipowners as still the most dominant group in the world of shipping, according to a new article, despite the widespread economic devastation wreaked by the coronavirus lockdowns this year.
Despite acknowledging that shipping as a whole saw “catastrophic” losses in the third quarter of 2020 due to the enormous fluctuations in the market because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, Greek owners still managed to maintain their stronghold in their traditional area of specialty.
Currently, Greek shipowners control 26% of the shipping fleet around the world, as well as 14.7 % of all cargo ships. Of all the world’s ships having more than 1,000 gross tonnage, which number 56,498, Greek interests control 3,968.
The Aggelikoussis Shipping Group has received the third in a series of five tanker ships that are under construction for Maran Tankers.
The report says that the pandemic caused shipping to have wildly fluctuating revenues, with very high profits alternating with what it called “Sharp corrections.”
George Prokopiou, the head of Dynacom tankers, remarked “It is difficult to predict the future and I will not dare. I cannot say where the market will go, up or down. The tanker freight market had a good run by coincidence.
“Russia’s conflict with the Arab world over oil production has pushed the price of a barrel to very low levels,” he explained, “causing countries to rush to build up reserves by importing large quantities of oil, so tankers were busy and the freight market went up.”
Experts say that the demand for crude oil may have decreased by 8.4 billion barrels per day due to the effects of lockdowns occasioned by the pandemic.
For the fourth quarter of this year alone, demand is expected to be approximately 0.6 million barrels of oil per day less than the pre-pandemic average.
In positive news, according to the publication VesselsValue, the worth of the entire fleet owned by Greeks amounts to $41.3 billion at present. In the area of liquefied natural gas, Greek-owned shipping rates first in the world, with their LNG tankers worth an impressive $19.8 billion.
VesselsValue lists the top 10 Greek ship owners as the following:
1. Giannis Aggelikoussis, Maran Tanker, having a total value of $3.041 billion.
2. George Prokopiou, Dynacom Tankers, having a total value of $2.301 billion.
3. Dr. Nikos Tsakos with the Tsakos Energy Navigation (listed on the stock market as TEN) with a value of $1.8 billion.
4. Nicholas Martinos, Thenamaris, having a fleet valued at $1.673 billion.
5. Andreas Martinos, Minerva and value of $1.5 billion.
6. George Economou, TMS, valued at $1.443 billion.
7. Anna Aggelousi, Pantheon, worth $1.420 billion.
8. Onassis Foundation – Olympic Shipping, with a value of $995 million.
9. Diamantis Diamantidis, Delta Tankers, and a fleet value of $976 million.
10. Angeliki Frangou, Navios Maritime Acquisition with a value of $971 million
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