To be or not to be, a shipowner

Athens – Becoming a shipowner used to be the dream of all Greeks. Maybe it still is. The names of the best-known shipowners were recognised by all – Onassis, Lemos, Niarchos. Today it is Latsis and Kyriakou and others. Some of the richest people in the world enjoying a life of glitz and glamour.

In the past for many indeed the dreams came true. An ex-captain, perhaps together with some partners, put some cash together and bought his first ship. That may have been in the early 1970s and the first ship would have been built in the early 1950s. It would likely have been a mini bulker and of about 3,000 DWT. Operating expenses were low and today’s rules and regulation about ISM and vessel condition were distant. Port state control was virtually non-existent in those days and such a vessel would happily sail all over and in the good years of the early 1970s this little vessel paid back its investment in less than a year.

In the mid 1980s also, many Greek entrepreneurs entered shipping. The industry had gone through five years of a devastating depression. Modern vessels were cheap and elderly vessels were at scrap related prices and scrap was at $100 per LWT. So again with relatively little capital – $500,000 was enough to acquire and make shipshape a 16,000 DWT single-decker built in the late 1960s – many bought vessels, operated them and waited for a better market. And that better market came with a vengeance with such 1969 built vessels being sold for four times as much before the decade was out. Some Greek owners bought twenty such vessels so you can just imagine the money that was made at that time.

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