- Aegean Bulk, Neda Maritime and Blue Star Ferries also honoured -
THE winners of the Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping Awards for 2012 have been
announced at a glittering gala dinner and awards presentation which
attracted 1,000
of Greece’s leading shipping personalities, executives and their guests.
The packed audience for the 9th annual Greek Shipping Awards, organised
by Lloyd’s List, the international maritime newspaper established in
1734, heard welcoming speeches by the minister of Shipping and the
Aegean, Kostis Mousouroulis, and Noboru Ueda, president of ClassNK, the
event’s overall lead sponsor.
Guests enjoyed a pre-dinner cocktail reception hosted by the American
Bureau of Shipping and the event, held as is traditional at the
Athenaeum InterContinental Hotel, was also supported by numerous Greek
and international companies sponsoring individual awards, as well as by a
number of prestigious industry organisations.
The awards are held annually to recognise and reward achievement and
meritorious activity in the Greek shipping industry as well as to
promote Greece’s status as a maritime centre. Winners are chosen by an
independent panel of judges representing a broad cross-section of the
Greek shipping industry.
THE WINNERS
Michael Bodouroglou, chairman and chief executive of two US-listed
shipowning companies, Paragon Shipping and Box Ships, was named Greek
Shipping Personality of the Year for 2012, reflecting a year of growth
and bold initiative. This included his private company, Allseas Marine,
which also expanded with bulker acquisitions.
Lloyd’s List’s Greek Shipping Newsmaker of the Year award went to Harry
Vafias, chief executive of Nasdaq listed StealthGas, for a year which
showed the virtues of his steady leadership of the company in the
healthy LPG carrier market, climaxing with an order for LPG
newbuildings. The Award is decided by the editorial staff of Lloyd’s
List.
Stavros Daifas, a stalwart of modern Greek shipping, was awarded the
Lloyd’s List / Propeller Club Lifetime Achievement Award for an
outstanding career which began from scratch and, apart from a
longstanding presence in shipowning, included long service to the Union
of Greek Shipowners.
Maersk McKinney Møller was posthumously elected International
Personality of the Year, the only award open exclusively to non-Greeks.
The patriarch of the Maersk group died earlier this year, aged 98, after
a lifetime building Maersk into a global colossus.
The recipient of the Dry Cargo Company of the Year Award for 2012 was
Aegean Bulk Co., which during the year took delivery of two eco-type
kamsarmax newbuildings, among the first bulkers built with electronic
engines. Aegean Bulk has pioneered with a quality,
environmentally-friendly bulker operation and its record includes the
first Greek Award recognition of a bulk carrier.
One of Greece’s oldest shipping companies, Neda Maritime Agency, won the
Tanker Company of the Year Award. The year saw the world’s first-ever
double hull VLCC, the historic Arosa, leave the Neda fleet, and two
high-spec modern VLCCs join the operation.
The Seafarer of the Year Award was won by Capt Athanasios Pagkalos of
the Costamare containership Navarino. The master was awarded the prize
for going to the rescue of an ailing 72 year-old yachtsman last August,
when he called for help hundreds of miles off the coast of Hawaii.
Danaos Corporation’s post-panamax containership Hyundai Ambition,
delivered earlier this year as the fifth and last ship in a series of
13,100 teu newbuildings, caught the judges eye as the ‘Ship of the Year’
for numerous fuel efficiency features as well as its IT and
communications systems, catering to better management and crew needs.
Other winners in 2012 included the Tsakos Group, which claimed the Award
for Achievement in Safety or Environmental Protection, Education or
Training winner Hydra Maritime Academy, and the
shipowner-turned-historian and maritime author George M. Foustanos, who
won a special ‘Man of the Sea’ Award.
Optima Shipbrokers and DVB Bank walked off with the honours in the
Shipbroker and Shipping Financier categories, respectively. Cosco
Pacific subsidiary Piraeus Container Terminal S.A. received the Piraeus
International Centre Award while SNAME Greek Section was voted the
winner of the Technical Achievement Award.
The Awards are officially supported by prominent bodies in Greek
shipping, including the Union of Greek Shipowners, the Hellenic Chamber
of Shipping and the Greek Shipping Co-operation Committee. Supporting
organizations also include the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection
Association - Helmepa, the Hellenic Shipbrokers’ Association, the
Association of Greek Passenger Shipping Companies, The Propeller Club,
International Port of Piraeus, WISTA Hellas, the Association of Banking
& Financial Executives of Hellenic Shipping, and the Piraeus
Association for Maritime Arbitration.
Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping Awards 2012
WINNERS AT-A-GLANCE
Dry Cargo Company of the Year - Aegean Bulk Co. Inc.
Tanker Company of the Year - Neda Maritime Agency Co. Ltd.
Passenger Line of the Year - Blue Star Ferries
Shipbroker of the Year - Optima Shipbrokers
Shipping Financier of the Year - DVB Bank
Ship of the Year - “Hyundai Ambition”
Technical Achievement Award - SNAME Greek Section
Piraeus International Centre Award - Piraeus Container Terminal S.A.
International Personality of the Year - Maersk McKinney Møller
Seafarer of the Year - Capt. Athanasios Pagkalos
Award for Achievement in Education or Training - Hydra Maritime Academy
Man of the Sea - George M. Foustanos
Award for Achievement in Safety or Environmental Protection - The Tsakos Group
Lloyd’s List/Propeller Club Lifetime Achievement Award - Stavros Antonios Daifas
Greek Shipping Newsmaker of the Year - Harry Vafias
Greek Shipping Personality of the Year - Michael Bodouroglou
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