Lloyd’s List held its annual “Greek Shipping Awards” last Friday in downtown Athens, with outgoing Intercargo association chairman and Angelicoussis group executive John Platsidakis voted as the 2018 “Greek Shipping Personality of the Year”.
The “Lloyd’s List’s Greek Shipping Newsmaker of the Year” award went to Angeliki Frangou, who has transformed the Navios group into a multi-billion-dollar company that controls more than 200 ships, while operating ports and logistics units in South America.
Simos P. Palios, the founder, chairman and chief executive of New York-listed Diana Shipping, was awarded the “Lloyd’s List / Propeller Club Lifetime Achievement”.
Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis was bestowed the “New Generation Shipping” award. The grandson of late shipping tycoon Yiannis Latsis, Kassidokostas-Latsis was cited as dynamically continuing the family tradition in shipping.
Christopher J. Wiernicki was chosen as the “International Personality of the Year”, a distinction bestowed on non-Greek citizens. Wiernicki is chairman, president and CEO of ABS and a previous chairman of the International Association of Classification Societies.
The annual awards recognize achievement and meritorious activity in the Greek shipping industry and promote Greece as a maritime hub. Winners are chosen by an independent panel of judges representing a broad cross-section of the Greek shipping industry.
The recipient of the Dry Cargo Company of the Year Award for 2018 was Contships Management Inc. Launched in 2015, Contships Management has already reached a fleet of 31 feeder container vessels, putting it into the Top 10 feeder operators worldwide.
The panel chose Euronav Ship Management Hellas as the “Tanker Company of the Year”. Since 2005 Euronav Ship Management has undertaken ship management for Euronav, publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange as well as Euronext Brussels.
The judges chose Seajets as “Passenger Line of the Year”. Seajets was launched as a passenger line in 2002 and has become one of the world’s largest operators of high-speed ferries, with a fleet of 14 high-speed vessels plus three conventional car-passenger ferries.
Clarksons Platou Hellas won the “Shipbroker of the Year” award. Since establishment in 2004, Clarkson Platou Hellas’ chartering team reached 1,000 fixtures and since 2017 the firm has concluded about 50 second-hand acquisitions for Greek and international clients.
The “Shipping Financier of the Year” award went to BNP Paribas.
Farad S.A. was awarded the “Technical Achievement” award. Farad S.A., is based in Piraeus and has been designing and manufacturing marine heat exchangers since 1979.
This year’s prestigious “Piraeus International Centre” award went to the Propeller Club in the eponymous port city. The judges recognized the major contribution that the club and its events make to the business and social life of Greece’s shipping community.
Dr. George A. Gratsos won the award for Safety or Environmental Protection. Gratsos was honored for his many years of contributions to both safety and environmental protection.
The “Seafarer of the Year” award was won by Capt. Efstratios Kavros, who became the first master to win the award twice. Kavros was in command of the Anek Lines ferry “Eleftherios Venizelos” last August, with 875 passengers and 140 crew onboard, when a serious fire broke out three hours after the vessel had set sail from Piraeus. Capt. Kavros was given the credit for safely returning to the port and disembarking every single passenger and crew member without injury.
The Tsakos Enhanced Education Nautical School was winner of the 2018 “Education or Training” award. The school opened last September on the island of Chios as the first private not-for-profit professional nautical high school in Greece.
The “Ship of the Year” award went to the “Afros”, an ultramax bulk carrier delivered earlier this year by Chinese shipbuilder Jiangsu Haitong. The “Afros”, managed by Blue Planet Shipping, is the first-ever bulk carrier to be fitted with the Flettner Rotor System, based on the Magnus Effect – otherwise known as spinning sail technology.
The “Lloyd’s List Intelligence Big Data” award was presented to Signal Ocean Platform. Publicly launched this year, Signal Ocean Platform uses sophisticated machine learning and fusion algorithms to collect and analyze a complex mixture of public and private data. The award was decided by a team of experts at Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
