CONTAINER shipping’s boom year was clearly reflected in the annual Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping Awards.

Costamare chief executive Konstantinos V. Konstantakopoulos was named Greek Shipping Personality of the Year and Mediterranean Shipping Company founder Gianluigi Aponte won the International Personality of the Year Award at the event in Athens in front of 700 guests.

Now in its 18th year, the event was making its return to a live dinner event format at its traditional venue, the Athenaeum InterContinental Hotel, after the awards were presented in the past year as an online event.

As they have been since inception, the Greek Shipping Awards were adjudicated by a panel of judges representing the wider Greek shipping community, with the exception of the Newsmaker of the Year and Big Data awards, which are decided directly by Lloyd’s List and Lloyd’s List intelligence respectively.

Mr Konstantakopoulos was selected by the judging panel for his outstanding leadership of New York Stock Exchange-listed containership owner Costamare, although one of the main things that caught the judges’ eye this year was the company’s dramatic bulk carrier buying spree, which is understood to have reached about 45 acquisitions.

Mr Aponte was hailed as International Personality of the Year, the only award category open only to non-Greeks, as MSC closes in on the title of world’s largest container line. (Picture: Niki Kalogiratos (left), chief communications officer of Capital Ship Management, presents the International Personality Award for Gianluigi Aponte to MSC Greece chairwoman Christina Theodorika.)

The judging panel also recognised the Italian shipowner’s longstanding relations with Greece, as a frequent charterer of Greek-owned boxships but also as a major supporter of Greece’s container terminals and cruise ports.

A record containership charter rate of $202,000 per day for the 4,250 teu Synergy Oakland (IMO: 9450583) recently made headlines internationally but was only one of the attributes that made Euroseas’ chief executive Aristides Pittas the Greek Shipping Newsmaker of the Year. (Picture: Newsmaker of the Year Aristides Pittas (left) receives his trophy from George Prassinos, marine lubricants manager of ExxonMobil.)

The shares of both Euroseas and Mr Pittas’ dry bulk offshoot EuroDry have outperformed other US-listed shipping stocks so far this year.

Hellaschart, which brokered the Synergy Oakland deal as well as dozens of other boxship charters and a record number of dry bulk fixtures, claimed the Shipbroker of the Year accolade.

Major individual awards went to shipowner Nicholas H. Vafias, who was honoured with the Lloyd’s List/Propeller Club Lifetime Achievement Award. (Picture: Mrs Ninette Vafias (right) accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of husband Nicholas Vafias from Shipping Deputy Minister of Cyprus, Vassilios Demetriades.)

Elsewhere, the Next Generation Shipping Award for personalities no older than 40 years of age went to Amalia Miliou-Theochoraki of TEO Shipping. (Picture: Amalia Miliou-Theocharaki (left) accepts the Next Generation Shipping Award from Theo Xenakoudis, director of worldwide business operation for IRI/TheMarshall Islands Registry.)

Key company awards included Dry Cargo of the Year winner Seanergy Maritime. It was recognised for a year in which it has expanded following eight new capesize bulker acquisitions. (Picture: Seanergy Maritime’s chief executive Stamatis Tsantanis (right) accepts the Dry Cargo Company of the Year Award from Matthew More of the award sponsor, Marichem Marigases Worldwide Services.)

In the equally competitive Tanker Company of the Year category, Arcadia Shipmanagement prevailed for a second time, having won its first award back in 2007. (Picture: Paillette Palaiologou of Bureau Veritas (left) presents the Tanker Company of the Year Award to George Angelopoulos of winning company Arcadia Shipmanagement.)

In a welcome address, Greece’s minister of Shipping & Island Policy Ioannis Plakiotakis offered his congratulations to all the nominees as well as the winners. (Picture: Greek shipping minister Ioannis Plakiotakis gave an opening address to an audience of 700 people at the 2021 Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping Awards in Athens.)

“Recognising values such as quality, entrepreneurship, innovation, [the Greek Shipping Awards] promote Greece, the largest shipping power in the world and establish it as the pre-eminent international shipping centre,” said Mr Plakiotakis.

“I can only express my happiness and satisfaction at the fact that one of the most important shipping events returns to normal conditions after almost two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

ClassNK, a longtime supporter of the event, was once again overall lead sponsor of the Greek Shipping Awards.

Guests enjoyed a pre-dinner drinks reception hosted by Erma First while China Classification Society offered the traditional champagne toast to the health of Greek shipping.

All awards were sponsored by a roster of leading Greek and international companies.

Hellenic Chamber of Shipping chairman George D. Pateras kindly presented a donation on behalf of the event organisers to Argo, the charity supporting children with disabilities in the families of Greek seafarers.

Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping Awards 2021 winners:

Dry Cargo Company of the Year — Seanergy Maritime

Tanker Company of the Year — Arcadia Shipmanagement

Passenger Line of the Year — Alpha Lines

Shipbroker of the Year — Hellaschart Ltd

Shipping Financier of the Year — National Bank of Greece

Technical Achievement Award — Panos Zachariadis

Safety Award — Capital Ship Management

Sustainability Award — Helmepa

Piraeus International Centre Award — Franman

International Personality of the Year — Gianluigi Aponte

Seafarer of the Year — Capt. Michail Makris

Achievement in Education or Training — Isalos.net

Ship of the Year — Transgas Power

Next Generation Shipping Award — Amalia Miliou-Theocharaki

Lloyd’s List Intelligence Big Data Award — Seafair

Lloyd’s List/Propeller Club Lifetime Achievement Award — Nicholas H. Vafias

Greek Shipping Newsmaker of the Year — Aristides J. Pittas

Greek Shipping Personality of the Year — Konstantinos V. Konstantakopoulos