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The Greeks have been a maritime nation since the times of ancient Greece, as the mountainous landscape of the mainland, the limited farming area and the extended coastline of Greece led people to occupy with shipping. The geographical position of the region on the crossroads of ancient sea lanes in the eastern Mediterranean, the multiplicity of islands and the proximity to other advanced civilizations have been proven fundamental for the formation of the maritime nature of the Greek nation at an early stage. Thus, the Greeks soon came to control the maritime trade in the region and gradually expanded it along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, also establishing colonies. A large part of the sea trade of the Roman Empire was carried out by the Greeks in the following centuries, while they continued to be involved and play a major role in shipping during the era of the Byzantine Empire as well.
In the times of the Ottoman Empire, the involvement of the Greeks in international maritime commerce was also prominent and Greek ships could be found especially in the ports of the eastern Mediterranean. They expanded their shipping activities and trade towards western Europe in the 16th century, taking advantage from the rapidly increasing need for grain. The restrictions imposed by the Ottomans to regulate the grain trade did not prevent the Greeks from carrying out illicit trade which brought considerable fortunes to them. Later, the Greek maritime merchants increased their influence, as they supplied the Balkans with raw materials, handled goods on behalf of foreigners, distributed the goods to the final markets and controlled the sea trade in the region, assuming the role of shipping agents. During the 18th century, the consolidation of political and economical power at the hands of the Phanariotes in Constantinople helped further expansion of the Greek maritime activity into the rest of Europe. The Greek merchant marine was also able to displace the western maritime powers due to the Anglo-French wars, which led their commerce to decline, and the navigation of the Greek vessels under the protection of the Russian Empire in many occasions.
The most prominent of the Greek cities that emerged as maritime powers were those from western Greece, primarily Galaxidi and Messolonghi, but also Arta, Preveza and Corfu, due to their early commercial ties with the Italian cities. In addition, the Aegean Islands were heavily active in shipping, where traditionally the inhabitants occupied with maritime commerce, especially Hydra, Spetses, Andros, Kasos, Psara and Mykonos. Although they did not have their own national flag, they flew the flags of the Russian and the British Empire for international routes. In 1792, the first Greek insurance company was founded in Trieste and those of Odessa followed in 1808 and 1814. Gradually, Greek seafarers made a lot of money and gained further knowledge and experience as they had to refine their ships and themselves in warfare against the pirates. The growth of the Greek merchant fleet gave confidence and success to them, while their contact with the western peoples awakened their national conciousness and made them feel free. The existence of a reservoir of trained sailors was to be proven an inestimable advantage once the Greek War of Independence had broken out, when the Greek merchant fleet converted to a formidable martial weapon against the cumbersome ships of the Ottoman fleet.
Greek merchants also provided the material basis for the Neohellenic Diafotismos. Impelled by the sense of local patriotism that had always been strong in the Greek world, they endowed schools and libraries. The three most important schools-cum-colleges in the Greek world on the eve of the War of Independence were situated in Smyrna, Chios, and Ayvalik (on the coast of Asia Minor opposite the island of Lesbs), all three major centres of Greek commerce.
In the wake of the nineteenth century diaspora the Chiot families were well positioned to take advantage of the commercial opportunities across Europe after the Napolenic Wars. Families such as the Rallis were already established in Marseilles and London. They established a network of shipping specialists across all of the major ports in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Gaining a seat on the Baltic Exchange, Ralli Brothers were able to introduce shippers and agents to reliable sources of funding. In some parts of the world these fleets were Greek-owned, but in Britain they were almost exclusively chartered by London Greeks flying under the British Flag. The major shipping companies were then owned by Papayanni, Spartali and Schilizzi, while the Rodocanachi family became pre-eminent traders in their cargoes.
Accompanying these Greek-run fleets were local expatriate communities of workmen and agent-translators who managed the unfamiliar customs and bureaucracy in foreign ports. In these times before the telegraph, this network gave the Greek shippers advance warning of events and allowed them to control news and prices in advance of their competitors.
The financial crisis of the 1860s saw some of these businesses collapse Nonetheless, the tradition of endowment continued, and it was shipping that funded institutions such as the National Library of Greece.
These changes heralded a move by some of the Chios families out of shipping and into financing or broking, allowing Ionian-descended families to establish their own networks and shipping dynasties, most notably the Vaglianos, Ziffa and Sechiari, with funding routed from the London financial markets.
Many changes and upheavals affected their markets: the Russian Revolution, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and restrictions in Egypt that closed their markets to foreigners. The Greek grain merchants in London and Odessa lost access to their traditional grain suppliers and markets and, rather than close, they seized the chance to invest in merchant fleets of steamships, and specialized in tramp shipping.
Development in Asia
Greek firms have managed to greatly capture the immense expansion of Asia, particularly China. It is majorly the dry bulk shipping firms that have benefited the most from the development since iron ore and coal are the two major resources that are required for a country’s infrastructure to be taken to the next level. Ever since the beginning of the new millennium, China has provided very lucrative contracts both on the spot, and time charter market for dry bulk shippers. As a result, many new shipping tycoons were created.
Families
Most Greek shipping has been run as a family business, with family members located in key ports or in key positions, and with marriages cementing relationships between commercial dynasties. These close-knit families have allowed financially-sensitive information to be kept within the local community, with many transactions kept within trusted family networks.
The twentieth century saw more Greek shipping families established, including:
Goulandris of Andros
Embiricos of Andros
Angelicoussis
Lemos of Oinousses
Pateras of Oinousses
Hatzipateras of Oinousses
Stathatos
Lyras
Papalios
Onassis of Smyrna
Rethimnis
Vergotis of Cephalonia
Coulouthros
Mavroleon
Livanos of Chios
Carras of Chios
Polemis
Likiardopoulos
Dracoulis
Gratsos of Ithaka
Karageorgis
Kulukundis
Nomikos
Latsis of Peloponnese
Hadjilias of Kasos
Foustanos of Syros
Fafalios of Chios
Negroponte of Syros
Tsavliris
Gregos
Koumantaros
Pittas
Chandris of Chios
Niarchos of Piraeus
Theodoracopoulos
Apadiakos from Chios
Vatis of Andros and later Syros
Economou of Galaxidi
Kalimanopoulos of Piraeus
Dracopoulos of Mikonos
Valmas of Andros and later Syros
Inglesis of Samos
Los of Chios
Eugenidis
Other contemporary shipowners include:
Martinos
Simeon Palios
Laskaridis
Kollakis
Panagiotidis
Tsakos
Tsakiris
Samartzis
Vafias
Katopodis
Kalamotusis
Koustas
Leontiadis
Petridis
Angelopoulos
Costantakopoulos
Efthimiou
Vardinogiannis
Vintiadis
Georgiopoulos
During the 20th century people known as “The Golden Greeks”, such as Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos, attracted attention due to their entrepreneurial success and lavish lifestyles. The families were well-known rivals during the 20th Century, and both controlled fleets exceeding one million tonnes.
John Latsis built a shipping empire out of nothing and his son Spiros took over with great success expanding the empire even further than shipping into banking and finance.
The Goulandris brothers started out from the Greek island of Andros and have built a multi-billion dollar empire over many years of trading.
John Theodoracopoulos was a well known shipping magnate of the 20th century who controlled a large fleet from New York[citation needed]. Theodoracopoulos started out his fleet by buying many Liberty ships from the Americans during WWII.
Greek Shipping Companies
Some notable Greek shipping companies include:
Aries Maritime Transport Ltd.
Kronos Maritime Agency
Transocean Steamship
Danaos Corporation
Euroseas Ltd.
Quintana
Tsakos Energy Navigation
Overseas Shipholding Group- Stelmar Ltd
Diana Shipping Inc
Dry Ships Ltd
Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Ltd
Eletson corporation
Freeseas Ltd
Goldenport Holdings Ltd
Loucas G. Matsas
Marmaras Navigation Ltd
Minerva Marine
A.M. Nomikos
Omega Navigation Enterprises Inc.
Primera Maritime (Hellas) Ltd.
Seanergy Maritime BCCtm
Spanos Maritime
Stealth Gas Ltd
Target Marine S.A.
Thena Maris S.A.
Top Tankers
Trefin Tankers
Tsavliris Salvage Intrnational Ltd
Continental Maritime S.A.
See also
List of ports in Greece
Aristotle Onassis
List of Greek companies
Economy of Greece
Greek Steamship Company (also Hellenic Steam Navigation Co. and New Greek Steamship Co.)
Piraeus
Syros
References
^ Encyclopedia Britannica, history of Greece, Merchant middle class, 2008, O.Ed.
^ A history of Greek-owned shipping, by Gelina Harlaftis
^ Depredations: Overend, Gurney & Co and the Greek and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, by ‘Stefanos Xenos’ (1869)
External links
Greek Ministry of Mercantile Marine
Shipping directory
Greek Shipping Publications
History of Greek shipping
Posidonia-Bi-annual International Shipping Exhibition
Greek freighter DIAMANTIS, sunk on 03 October 1939 by German U-Boat U-35
House flags of Greek shipping companies
George Bitros and Ioanna Minoglou: Entrepreneurship and market order: Some historical evidence Munich University Personal RePEc Archive
Review of maritime transport 2007
The marine sector in Greece
Categories: Economy of Greece | Merchant marineHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from May 2008
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