WHERE the Greeks lead in shipping, others tend to follow. So the opportunity to dissect the sentiment, hopes and fears driving the mighty Athens shipowning community is not an opportunity to be missed. 

Once a year the great and the good of Greece’s still dominant shipping sector gather for a party like no other and the podcast this week comes to you from the sidelines with a somewhat noisy discussion about what’s driving the Piraeus party set.

Gathered round the microphone with Lloyd’s List Editor Richard Meade as the Greek Shipping Awards get underway this week are podcast regular and London Greek Anastassios Adamopoulos and our Athens correspondent and host of the Greek Shipping Awards, Nigel Lowry.

The team discuss the fortunes and failings of the Greek owners this year and get the crystal ball out to take a look forward to the prospects facing them in 2020 and beyond. They also analyse what the recent slew of political rhetoric from Greek shipping minister Ioannis Plakiotakis might say about shipping’s political debate for next year and where the Union of Greek Shipowners might fit into the big debates yet to come about climate regulation and potential market-based mechanisms.

A warning in advance of listening to this week’s edition — the Athens team were discussing the weighty issues of the day while the Greek Awards were setting up around them for the 1,200 guests, so there is a little background noise to contend with. Welcome to Athens!

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