---As the 1,856 exhibitors from 87 countries taking part in Posidonia 2010 were at work finalising their stands, the 22nd edition of Posidonia was being described as the most international exhibition event worldwide. It was also being seen as a golden opportunity to demonstrate one of Greece's great strengths at a time when the country is pretty much under the cosh.

"Posidonia is a great opportunity for Greece. It is important in difficult times to demonstrate the strengths you have. Shipping is an area of real strength for Greece. It is a huge opportunity for Greece to show it has such an important industry," said David Moorhouse, chairman of Lloyd's Registry.

Indeed, recognising this a high profile committee comprising senior members of the Greek shipping community has been created to enhance the contribution Posidonia makes to the shipping industry and to take advantage of the many opportunities it presents in promoting the interests of Greek shipping. Themistocles Vokos, chairman Posidonia Exhibitions, said the goal of the Posidonia Coordinating Committee is "to further strengthen the existing links of Posidonia with the Greek shipping community so that the industry's aspirations can be effectively projected both at home and abroad".

Under the chairmanship of John C Lyras, past president and current board member of the Union of Greek Shipowners, the committee comprises: George A. Gratsos, chairman of the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping, Theodore E. Veniamis,E president of the UGS, Haralambos J. Fafalios, chairmanEof the Greek Shipping Co-operation Committee of London, and Vokos.

"In its 44-year history, Posidonia has served as a networking forum between shipping industry professionals and has laid the foundations for thousands of business transactions that have had significant contributions to national economies and corporate bottom lines, jobs creation and growth stimulation," said Vokos.

"And thanks to some 10,000 international high level shipping industry executives who will visit the show, Posidonia also injects significant foreign exchange inflows directly into a large number of tourism industry SMB's, the spinal chord of Greece's economy. This is estimated to be a biennial windfall of around Euro 50m spent in tourism related activities in Athens and the Aegean islands," said Vokos.E

Posidonia 2010 is set to open at the Hellenikon Exhibition Centre, June 7 and run to June 11. Occupying some 31,000sq mtrs, the 2010 edition is the largest Posidonia ever, 11.5% bigger than the 2008 event. It is expected to attract upwards of 15,000 visitors in total from the shipping industry, a remarkable achievement considering the global economic downturn.

-- Filed: 2010-06-04

--Not much attention has been given to those owners who quietly sold off large parts of their fleets.

Over the past year, much discussion has surrounded Greek shipowners who went out on a limb and possibly overextended themselves with secondhand purchases and newbuildings during the boom years.

Almost as much has been said about those who made few or no moves during that time and are now ready to use their cash reserves.

But very little has been said about the owners who took advantage of soaring prices to sell, in some cases their whole fleet, and who for the past couple of years have kept behind the parapet.

Nikos Pateras of Pacific & Atlantic (P&A) is one such owner. P&A’s fleet peaked at somewhere around 50 vessels. They were sold up to 2006, long before the collapse of the dry-bulk markets.

The move was seen as extremely wise because many of them were somewhat elderly general cargoships or multipurpose (MPP) vessels that in a less buoyant market might not have been so sellable.

In August 2006, Pateras told TradeWinds that he planned to start building a new fleet by the end of that year — but he apparently changed his mind.

On several occasions thereafter, P&A was said to have booked newbuildings but Pateras has consistently denied this.

Despite having no ships, Pateras retained some staff and subsequently set up Bulkers & Tankers (Shipbrokers). Then, in January, it was announced that a separate company called P&A Trading Inc had been established to maintain and develop long-standing relations between the owner’s companies and leading charterers.

Now, however, it looks as if Pateras is on the brink of making a more substantial move.

Although coy about the details, chief financial officer Maurice Dheere says the company is looking very seriously at “a number of transactions”.

“We are working on a number of fronts. At the moment I’m working on about three very live deals,” he said.

The group has examined various possibilities, adds Dheere, not just the purchase of bulkers, which were its main area of operation, but also containerships and other types of vessels.

Another owner who almost completely disposed of his privately controlled fleet was Petros Pappas of the Oceanbulk group but he believes he moved too soon.

“I should have waited a couple of years but I sold too early. I left too much on the table. I’m not very proud of my timing on the sales front,” he admitted.

This is not to say Pappas did not make a profit on the sales, maybe just not as much as he would have made later.

From close to 30 ships in mid-2003, Pappas had whittled the fleet down to just three chartered-out vessels by mid-2005.

But the owner has not been out of shipping entirely. He is the non-executive chairman of Nasdaq-listed Star Bulk Carriers and is understood to hold a stake of about 18% in the company. It has recently booked two capesize newbuildings and bought a third in the secondhand market.

For the moment, Lloyd’s Register/Fairplay lists Oceanbulk Maritime with just one ship under its control, the 181,000-dwt bulker Carpe Diem (built 1985), while Oceanbulk Group is additionally listed with the 53,600-dwt Serenity I (built 2006).

Pappas is ambivalent about the future of the market but at the same time hints that he is working on a shipping deal, although he will not reveal anything for now.

“I’m not sure where the market is going, whether it is going down or up. It is very erratic and it is not very easy to read,” he said. “We will invest only if there is a clear opportunity. We are not going to take risks just because I was out of shipping for the past few years. I have patience.”

Another owner to have quietly sold a huge number of ships over the past few years is Charalambos Mylonas of Transmed.

As well as eight capesize bulkers booked at Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry of China and sold at attractive prices leaving it with an aggregate profit estimated at around $250m, the company also booked a series of medium-range (MR) products tankers at South Korea’s SPP Shipbuilding that rose to a total of 22 ships, all of which were resold. Transmed never disclosed the order prices and the sales were almost all revealed only after the buyers had taken delivery, again without no prices disclosed. What can be assumed is that the Greek owner profited handsomely from the deals.

The notoriously tight-lipped company is now listed with three ships in the water — all bulkers — the 74,000-dwt Edelweiss (built 2004), 173,000-dwt Good Luck and 139,800-dwt Sparrow (both built 1984).

However, depending on the source of information, Transmed is also listed as having up to 17 newbuildings on order, all theoretically set for delivery this year and next.

The Greek Shipping Directory lists it with two 170,000-dwt vessels but no indication of the yard, seven 174,000-dwt bulkers at Bohai, four 92,500-dwt bulkers at Shandong New Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co in Weihai and four 320,000-dwt very large ore carriers (VLOCs) at India’s Rajapur Shipyard.

Other databases list different combinations of orders.

These are of course not the only Greek companies that have shrunk their fleets through multiple sales and in all three examples it is clear that the right business opportunities will bring them back into the headlines, willingly or not.

By Gillian Whittaker Athens

Published: 21:59 GMT, 03 Jun 10 | updated: 21:03 GMT, 02 Jun 10

---Although the economic downturn has blown away the newbuilding market and reduced the budgets available to upgrade vessels, shipbuilding is still one of the potential growth areas that will generate interest at Posidonia 2010.

The Greek-flagged fleet is certainly not the world’s largest, but Greek interests do control a proportion of the world’s fleet far larger than the country’s size would warrant. Some 8% of the total number of vessels in service or on order worldwide are controlled by Greek interests. If measured by deadweight, however, that increases to nearer 15%, possibly due to the Greek proclivity for larger vessels.

Split down into ship types trading in 2010, Greece has economic interests in 23.1% of the global fleet’s oil tankers (with 603 vessels), 9% of chemical or products tankers (635 ships), 9% of gas carriers (126), 17.5% of ore or bulk carriers (1,722), 3% of cargo ships (426), 4.5% of box ships (235), and 6.5% of passenger vessels (127). The last figure includes many of the ferries that ply between the Greek islands.

For vessels over 1,000gt, the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping reported that the Greek-controlled fleet consisted of 3,996 vessels (258,121,898dwt). This is 165 ships fewer than last year’s total, quite probably due to the economic downturn, although figures have been known to fall without obvious connections to market factors. There are 826 newbuildings on order, which offers hope, but there is likely to be a lot of wrangling over launch or delivery dates over the coming years.

Of the ships in service or on order worldwide, 24% are registered under the Greek flag, which now accounts for 969 vessels – in comparison with 1,121 in 2009, with 189 on order, which compares poorly with the 356 vessels ordered last year.

Age profile continues to improve

As the number of vessels worldwide fell over the past year, the overall size of the Greek fleet shrank accordingly, as it lost 80 ore and bulk carriers, 24 containers and 56 dry cargo vessels. Apart from the figure for oil tankers, which rose by eight vessels, the number of tankers dropped, as chemical and products tankers diminished by 38 vessels and gas tankers by 11.

The biggest loser in percentage terms is Greek-controlled combination or OBO vessels that can carry ore or oil, which dropped 3-4% over the last 12 months in comparison with the world fleet.

A large percentage of Greek-controlled ships sail under the flags of the major registration states, with Panama and Liberia both having 14% of deadweight, Malta 13% and the Marshall Islands12%. Cyprus and the Bahamas are not far behind with 7% each. Malta and the Marshall Islands have made major gains, as owners have moved away from the Greek, Panama and Cyprus flags.

A noticeable feature is that the age profile of the Greek-controlled fleet has kept getting younger over the last decade. The average age was more than 20 in 2000, but is only 11.6 years in 2010 and because newer vessels are larger the average age is just 8.2 years old in terms of deadweight.

Posidonia’s principal role is to provide access to the Greek shipping community. But this market place is a tough working day for shipbuilders outside China, Korea and India as Greek vessels have traditionally been built in Asia. It will be interesting to see how well the yards from the various shipbuilding centres do. Indeed, India, which is dipping its collective toe into the warm Greek waters for the first time, is only coming with a handful of shipbuilders.

Hundreds of ships may be owned offshore and plenty of Greek owners and operators may live outside the country, but the shipping industry is of great importance to Greece. One can gauge this by the massive amount of local sponsorship, provided by such organisations as the Ministry of Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping; the Municipality of Piraeus; the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping; the Union of Greek Shipowners; the Greek Shipping Co-operation Committee; the Hellenic Shortsea Shipowners Association; the Association of Greek Passenger Shipping Companies; and the Union of Marine Enterprises.

The Greeks themselves are no longer shipbuilders and have taken little interest in recycling activities, so agents of the Asian yards could be generating a lot of business, but there should still be enough scope for an enterprising service provider or equipment manufacturer with global credentials.

* Thursday 03 June 2010 * by Nigel Lowry

---IT IS tempting to say that Gregory Callimanopulos is your typical Greek shipping magnate. But then again, he’s not.

He may seem a shade closer than most of his peers to tabloid-style fantasies of what a shipping magnate ought to be like. But, ironically, that is one of a number of traits that set him apart from many shipowners seen on the streets of Piraeus in real life.

Now 70-ish and looking incredibly fit, the New York-based owner could reflect on a globetrotting life of big shipping deals, beautiful women and serious art purchases – the things we all want to hear about. But he is not going to do so, at least not today.

First, that would hardly fit the time, though generous, allotted to our interview. Mr Callimanopulos has a date with a Christies’ auction in the afternoon, stalking an old master that is no less “marvellous” for not being by one of the most recognised names.

Furthermore, he’s just plain not ready for a comprehensive retrospective of his life. He takes a similar approach with what, by all accounts, is a stupendous private art collection. Despite urging, he has not so far been tempted to display it in its entirety, although works sometimes see the light of day through loans to public exhibitions.

Being eclectic by nature, his collection spans a wide spectrum – paintings from old masters to impressionists and contemporary canvases, and other works ranging from antiquities to Chinese to tribal art. Examples of the latter adorn the owner’s suite in the beautifully restored, neo-classical building on the Akti Miaouli that houses shipmanagement arm Marine Management Services and the Piraeus branch of Royal Bank of Scotland.

“My life has been enormously enriched by my involvement in art,” he says. “Not just because I have great fun with it, but because you read so much, it expands your knowledge so much.”

Mr Callimanopulos seems at ease with the fact that the breadth of his interests can be seen as both strength and weakness.

“Whether it is in my art collection or in my professional endeavours, I like diversity because it expands my horizons, it broadens me as a person. It gives me a variety of pleasures versus one. I have met men who are very successful not because they are particularly intelligent but because they have this ability to focus like a laser beam on their business and the objectives of their business. But they miss out on many of the other things in life. My philosophy is not that.

“Perhaps it is a stretch, but maybe it is part of the same genetic element as my father.” Both, he feels, obeyed an impulse “to seek ... where others have not trodden.”

Descended from a leading chieftain in the Greek War of Independence, his father, Pericles Callimanopulos, began in the shipping business just after the First World War. Establishing Hellenic Lines in 1935 filled a gap for a Greek-owned liner service linking the country with the outside world. Against all the odds, Hellenic managed to break into the liner trades and, in the early months of the Second World War, even managed to launch a service linking the US with Greece and Turkey.

After the war, the founder moved to the US with the goal of rebuilding the shattered service. The following year, the rest of his family, including the 10-year-old Gregory Callimanopulos, boarded a steamer to relocate in New York.

At the start, Hellenic launched its new North America-East Mediterranean service in a joint venture with States Marine Corporation. Pericles Callimanopulos received no fewer than five of the 100 Liberty vessels allotted by the US to Greece at the war’s end, and these were put into the line.

Somehow, Hellenic expanded its fleet to about 40 ships and widened its network to the Middle East and Indian Ocean, succeeding in the face of discrimination by liner conferences and indifference on the part of the Greek government.

Gregory Callimanopulos continues to be awed by the sheer “temerity” of it. He began working for Hellenic in 1956, but could not be contained in his father’s company for long. At 26, already married and with two young children, he set out on his own, despite “very limited means”, to form his own shipping business, Trade & Transport. That was hardly textbook behaviour for scions of Greek shipping families.

Despite this, he stepped up to the plate as Hellenic’s managing director in 1973 after his father was sidelined by a riding injury. The death of Pericles Callimanopulos in 1979 left his son, then in his 40s, in full charge.

Hellenic had already begun to switch the focus of its fleet to containers, pioneering Greece’s presence in the sector, and Mr Callimanopulos continued his father’s modernisation, ordering further container vessels and converting some of its conventional liners. Unfortunately, the investment programme took place on the cusp of an unprecedented crisis in shipping.

Hardly had the first signs of a cash squeeze become evident at the company than creditors led by Morgan Guarantee Trust, which later reverted to J.P. Morgan, called in the loans, triggering Hellenic’s collapse in 1984.

A new book on Hellenic Lines, written by Greek maritime historian George Foustanos, suggests that the company’s history and its record of high-quality services were worthy of better treatment from bankers. Furthermore, it contrasts the ruthlessness that was meted out to Hellenic with the support given to other struggling carriers of that day, not to mention state bailouts of a number of today’s European container lines. Whatever the behind-the-scenes truth may be, the episode probably robbed Greece of a worthy champion in the container liner industry.

The trauma of Hellenic’s demise cannot entirely be erased. Today, Mr Callimanopulos concedes, he is disinclined to reawaken those years by getting back into container vessels.

“An equity group asked me to co-invest in bottom-fishing with containers, but it was too painful an experience with Hellenic. It is an emotional thing – nothing to do with business considerations.”

But all shipping sectors are closely monitored and the choices have been the result of independent thinking.

That was most obviously true when Mr Callimanopulos entered the offshore vessel industry in 1989 with Toisa’s acquisition of the Australian TNT Sealion fleet, comfortably pre-dating other Greek shipowners who have begun looking offshore in recent years.

He notes that the offshore sector bears some comparison with liner operations in that “it is a total business – to the extent that you are cultivating major customers and you are performing a continuing service to them”.

He says: “Any business is cut-throat these days, but I think it is less cut-throat and there is more camaraderie. There is more effort at solving problems reasonably rather than running to arbitration.” Mr Callimanopulos links this to the fact that often vessels are accommodating a “mini-United Nations” of different nationalities and professional disciplines on board, in addition to the crew.

He likes the multinational flavour of the industry and dealing with many different mentalities. “It is more challenging and I like that about it,” he says. “I am very hands-on in everything I do and I enjoy the detail. Of course, at times, that can be exhausting.”

That probably also applies to his two full-time assistants who, adept with modern communications gadgets, have the mission of keeping pace. “I am a bit of a dinosaur,” he says. “I don’t have a mobile, don’t have a BlackBerry, and don’t have a computer. They have these things.”

The Toisa fleet, managed by UK-based Sealion Shipping, has expanded and modernised over the years. It now numbers close to 30 vessels, with another seven on order, including five newbuildings that will be christened in September this year at China’s Wuchang Shipyard – three anchor handling tug supply vessels and two ROV-operating large platform supply vessels.

Four of the vessels have been financed by $127m from the Export-Import Bank of China with Citibank, making Toisa one of the first select foreign shipping companies to win major bankrolling from Chinese financiers.

While the offshore industry has on the whole been buoyant since Mr Callimanopulos became involved, he is quick to say that in some other market calls he has been “totally wrong”. He says: “One of the mistakes I have made was that I always thought the more difficult the task, the more you succeed and the greater the reward. But recently in our industry it has not been so.

“The sector that has benefited the most is the simplest of all sectors, which is the one I first started with and which I love, which is the dry cargo business. I abandoned it because I thought it was so easy there was no particular entry difficulty and because it was so open it would not be particularly remunerative.

“We would like to return to that business but I am still waiting for the major crack in it. Every so often it appears to be the case but then reverses.”

Not that long ago, the group came to the brink of ordering four kamsarmax bulkers at a Chinese yard, but the deal failed because ideas differed on the up front instalment. Now, though, prices are several million dollars cheaper than then, he notes. “At some point we will do something,” he says.

Mentally bracketing the tankers with the offshore sector as a more demanding business than dry, he continued investing in tankers and the group began 2010 with a fleet of seven on the wet side. The sole single-hull left is the very large crude carrier Pericles G.C., built in 1990, which was acquired from World-Wide Shipping four years ago for a reported $39m. Mr Callimanopulos suggests the VLCC will soon be phased out.

The fleet also includes three 1992-built suezmaxes, purchased secondhand, and three panamax newbuildings – United Ambassador, United Banner and United Carrier – delivered from New Century Shipbuilding in 2007.

Further renewal is already taking place as six more new tankers roll off the production line, this time from China New Times Shipbuilding. Ordered in 2006 for an estimated $400m, there are three 114,000 dwt aframaxes and three 163,000 dwt suezmaxes, all of which are expected to join the Marine Management fleet by end-August this year.

“I felt and still feel that it is an industry that down the road will be rewarded – perhaps not now, although already I think you are seeing some uptick,” sayd Mr Callimanopulos. “I think that the added difficulty of crewing and operating tankers, and the incredible mass of people that want to drive cars in India, China, South America and Southeast Asia will mean that it will be all right in the end.”

What next? “Doing what I have been doing, enjoying my diverse interests. Looking for opportunities where you think there is value, or under-value, whether in shipping or elsewhere.” Although Mr Callimanopulos cannot conceive that enjoying retirement would be a problem, he says: “I am not looking to walk away at the moment.”

But then he does.

When he purchased the TNT fleet two decades back, Mr Callimanopulos recounts, the deal partly hinged on the consent of BP as a key charterer. He had the strong impression that the oil major’s offshore team were not enthused by the prospect of dealing with “a little Greek from the Akti Miaouli who could not speak English” looking to break into a field ruled by Britons and Scandinavians.

Most probably, the Princeton-educated owner was not at all that they had bargained for. But just to underline the point, he brought their cross-examination to an end himself by asking them to make available an office for him to make some urgent business calls.

It’s that sort of moment. Suddenly, he’s up, a painting to bid for and thereafter a plane to catch to see an El Greco exhibition in Brussels. “Sure, it is an effort to do that. Does it take away some of my focus on other things? Sure. But damn it, it’s worth it,” he says of the planned gallery visit. “When I have to be focused on my business, I am focused.”

With that, he turns away, looking to live life more than dwell on it excessively.

---June 2, 2010 – Athens, Greece – Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. (the “Company”) (NASDAQ: SHIP; SHIP.W) announced today that the Company has completed the final documentation, after entering into a Share and Purchase Agreement with Maritime Capital Shipping (Holdings) Limited, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (the “Seller”), for the acquisition of a 51% ownership interest in Maritime Capital Shipping Limited, a company incorporated in Bermuda (“MCS”), for a purchase price of $33.0 million. The purchase price was paid to the Seller from the proceeds of the Company’s recent equity offering completed in February 2010 and from the Company’s cash reserves. The Seller, which is controlled by the Restis family, one of the Company’s major shareholders, has retained a 49% ownership interest in MCS.

As a result of the acquisition, the size of the Company’s fleet has increased from 11 to 20 dry bulk vessels, comprising four Capesize, three Panamax, two Supramax, one Handymax and 10 Handysize dry bulk carriers, with a combined cargo-carrying capacity of approximately 1.3 million dwt and an average fleet age of 12.7 years.

Dale Ploughman, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, stated: “We are pleased to announce the completion of the MCS acquisition on schedule. We view this as a strategic and transformational acquisition for Seanergy. It has increased our controlled fleet to 20 vessels while it has decreased our average fleet age, and we believe it expands our revenue and profit generation capacity.

“Furthermore, we believe the MCS acquisition enhances the overall stability and visibility of our cash flows. 89% of MCS’ ownership days in 2010, 67% for 2011, 59% for 2012 and 41% for 2013 are already secured under fixed employment with corresponding revenues of approximately $117 million and EBITDA of $99 million for the respective period.

“As a result of the acquisition of MCS, our fleet will have a more balanced charter portfolio enabling us to benefit both from secured cash flows from period employment and from the expected continued market upside with the portion of our fleet opening for re-chartering. On a combined fleet basis, we have secured under period employment 93% of ownership days in 2010, 58% for 2011, 27% for 2012 and 19% for 2013.

“We believe that we acquired MCS at an attractive price. The projected adjusted EBITDA from the MCS contribution is estimated to be $23 million for the remainder of 2010 and $40 million for 2011 implying a purchase price to EBITDA multiple of 1.6 times on an annualized basis.

“In the short period of less than two years as a publicly-traded company, we have more than tripled our controlled fleet from six to 20 vessels and quadrupled our combined cargo-carrying capacity, without sacrificing the strength of our balance sheet. We also believe that the timing of the MCS acquisition is optimal, as it enables Seanergy to benefit right away from the gradual global economic recovery with a larger and younger fleet.

“Our objective is to continue to build Seanergy into a leading player in the global shipping industry with prudent and well-timed acquisitions. We believe Seanergy is one of the most undervalued companies amongst our peers and we will continue to make every effort to increase Seanergy’s shareholder value.”

The following tables provide information with respect to the Company’s expanded controlled fleet including the MCS vessels. ( go to http://www.seanergymaritime.com/press/seanergy060210.pdf )

---PIRAEUS, Greece, June 1, 2010 - Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation (“Navios Acquisition”) (NYSE:NNA) announced today the appointment of Ms. Brigitte Noury and Ms. Anna Kalathakis to its Board of Directors.

Ms. Brigitte Noury served, from March 2002 until December 2009, as Director of Corporate & Investment Banking Asset & Recovery Management - Europe for Societe Generale. She also served, from June 1989 until February 2002, as Head of Shipping at Societe Generale. Mrs. Noury received a Master of Economic Sciences and a Diploma in Business Administration from the University of Dijon.

Ms. Anna Kalathakis is currently Senior Vice President — Legal Risk Management of Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. and has been in that position since December 2005. Previously she has served as the General Manager of the Greek office of A Bilbrough & Co Ltd. Ms. Kalathakis has a Master’s of Business Administration from the European University in Brussels and a Juris Doctor degree from Tulane Law School.

Ms. Frangou, Chairman and CEO of Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation stated, “With these two appointments, we continue to expand the expertise held by the Board of Navios Acquisition. Ms. Noury’s extensive knowledge of the ship finance industry and Ms. Kalathakis’ significant experience in the tanker sector will add great value to Navios Acquisition.”

Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation (NYSE: NNA) is a global shipping company specializing in the product and chemical tanker sectors.

---

Lloyd’s Register confirms its commitment to greek shipping and stresses the need for the shipping industry to speak with a single voice in influencing industry regulation

‘Hellenic seafaring tradition important for future of the industry in Greece’, says LR Committee Chairman, Captain Panagiotis Tsakos, ‘Greek shipping is one of the main pillars of our economic life and can show the way in our development and growth.’

Piraeus, June 04, 2010 -- Lloyd’s Register’s Hellenic Advisory Committee (HAC) met in Piraeus this week to discuss key industry issues with Lloyd’s Register’s senior management. Richard Sadler, CEO of Lloyd’s Register, said that the industry needs a shared voice to be better represented at international level, ‘It’s been said before the industry needs one voice to stand up for shipping. This is a very high priority, what I am saying is not new and it’s not going to be easy, but we need to make this happen. Our vital industry needs to better protect and promote itself against repeated reactive, and increasingly regional, governance whilst still encouraging the innovation that we need.’

Following opening remarks by Lloyd’s Register Chairman David Moorhouse the committee of leading Greek shipowners shared views on the current key challenges facing the industry. In a session led by Lloyd’s Register’s Marine Director Tom Boardley and Apostolos Poulovassilis, Regional Marine Manager, Europe Middle East and Africa, the environment and areas where LR is supporting owners in facing the challenge of new regulations, such as the forthcoming ballast water convention, were at the top of the list.

Luis Benito, LR Marine Manager, Korea provided an update on newbuilding developments and technology. Korean shipyards he said were making a big play on quality, technology and rapid turn-around time using in-house design teams. While Capt. Tony Field, Lloyd’s Register’s Marine Business Manager, S.E. Europe, updated members on the Human Element in Shipping and urged the committee to further support the training of Greek and EU seafarers to provide the industry with necessary trained expertise. LR is able to provide training and support to help with seafarer and management training and now has leading human element expertise relevant to design and operations in shipping.

Connecting Greek shipping and culture, Mr. Poulovassilis announced that Lloyd’s Register’s support for the 2,500th anniversary of the Athens Classic Marathon will raise funds for the Greek Merchant Marine Academies. Richard Sadler, CEO Lloyd’s Register will run the marathon with Lloyd’s Register employees from around the world.

The Committee’s Chairman, Capt. Panagiotis Tsakos, concluded the meeting talking about the importance of investing in the seafarers of the future, and the potential for young people, saying, ‘At a time of crisis, perhaps there are now some opportunities. There are fewer Greeks going to sea today – with fewer seafarers our technical and management skills will decline. At a time when the economic situation is so uncertain, the potential of careers at sea could be welcomed by the young today. Greece is a world leader in shipping and I hope that it can remain at the forefront of our vital industry.

Richard Sadler added, ‘At this time of difficulty for Greece we are certainly here to provide support for Greek operators – as we always have.’

The next Committee meeting will be held in November.

Notes to editors

1. The Lloyd’s Register Group is an independent risk management organization that works to help to improve its clients’ quality, safety, environmental and business performance throughout the world, because life matters. Its expertise and activities cover railways, shipping, oil and gas, and other asset-based industries. The Group comprises charities and non-charitable companies, with the latter supporting the charities in their public benefit goals.

Contact: Annita Patargia, Media Relations Coordinator, T +30 210 4580835, E annita.patargia@lr.org, www.lr.org

---

The Tsavliris Salvage Group and many in the Greek shipping community gathered February 23 at the Yacht Club of Greece to celebrate the New Year and to recognise the contribution to salvage of Michalis Pagonis, who has offered a staggering 60 years of loyal service to the Tsavliris group.

Pagonis, who began his career as a teenager and worked for the founder of Tsavliris Salvage, Alexander G. Tsavliris and now for his three sons, Nicolas, George and Andreas Tsavliris, spoke of his pride in being a part of the accomplishment of "turning the company into one of the most recognised salvage and towage companies worldwide".

---

---

Contributed by Andreas Neocleous & Co LLC, May 19 2010

In January 2010, in Nationwide Shipping Inc v The Áthena (Case 33/2009) the Admiralty Division of the Supreme Court held that a vessel cannot be arrested as security for a potential future award in London arbitration proceedings.

The Cyprus court was referred to the English Court of Appeal decision in The Vasso ((1984) 1 Lloyd's Law Reports, 235), where the owner of cargo carried onboard the defendant's ship wished to pursue a claim against the defendant for damage to that cargo. After the plaintiff had commenced an action in rem in the Admiralty Court, the parties entered into an ad hoc agreement to arbitrate and the plaintiff actively pursued its claim in the arbitration (there being no arbitration clause in the bill of lading). Having sold the vessel in the meantime, the defendant refused to provide security and the plaintiff applied to the Admiralty Court for an order to arrest the ship, which was granted. The defendant applied to the admiralty court for (i) a declaration that it did not have jurisdiction to arrest the vessel as security for arbitration proceedings, and (ii) an order discharging the undertaking by the defendant's protection and indemnity club which was filed for the purpose of releasing the vessel. The court granted both orders requested by the defendant.

In reaching his decision, the judge quoted the following extract from The Vasso at p 242:

"However, on the law as it stands at present, the Court's jurisdiction to arrest a ship in an action in rem should not be exercised for the purpose of providing security for an award which may be made in arbitration proceedings. That is simply because the purpose of the exercise of the jurisdiction is to provide security in respect of the action in rem, and not to provide security in some other proceedings, for example, arbitration proceedings. The time may well come when the law on this point may be changed: see s. 26 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act, 1982, which has however not yet been brought into force. But that is not yet the law. It follows that if a plaintiff invokes the jurisdiction of the Court to obtain the arrest of a ship as security for an award in arbitration proceedings, the Court should not issue a warrant of arrest."

The Vasso was the sole decision to which the Cyprus court referred. The judge noted that even though the extract quoted above was said in passing, it constituted a sufficient basis to conclude that the Cyprus Admiralty Division did not have jurisdiction "in the circumstances of the present case that were explained, since the request of the plaintiff is for security in connection to the result of an arbitration procedure".

Therefore, the decision in Nationwide Shipping Inc should be interpreted as being confined to the ability to arrest a vessel. The Supreme Court has recently confirmed the power of Cyprus courts to issue interim orders in aid of international commercial arbitration proceedings, having adopted, among other things, the following principles from English cases:

* "The jurisdiction of national courts is primarily territorial, being ordinarily dependent on the presence of persons or assets within their jurisdiction. Commercial necessity resulting from the increasing globalisation of trade has encouraged the adoption of measures to enable national courts to provide assistance to one another, thereby overcoming difficulties occasioned by the territorial limits of their respective jurisdictions."

* "Once the court is satisfied that there are such assets in the possession or control of the co-defendant, the jurisdiction exists to make a freezing order as ancillary and incidental to the claim against the principal defendant, although there is no direct cause of action against the co-defendant."

* "Equally, there may be instances where a party seeks an order that will have an effect on a third party, which only the court could grant."

* "I can see no reason why 'assets' should be limited to the defendant's assets."

Further to the general power of Cyprus courts to issue Mareva injunctions under the Administration of Justice Law, the Supreme Court has specific power under the Merchant Shipping Laws to issue orders prohibiting any dealing with respect to ships registered in the Cyprus Ship Registry.

For further information on this topic please contact Costas Stamatiou at Andreas Neocleous & Co LLC by telephone (+357 25 110 000), fax (+357 25 110 001) or email (stamatiou@neocleous.com).