Dionysios “Dennis” Dellaportas, the founder and president of Meadway Shipping & Trading Inc, died unexpectedly on Tuesday morning at the age of 70.
Dellaportas, a shipowner who also opened the first Greek-controlled chartering office in Singapore, leaves behind a wife, a daughter, five grandchildren, and sons Costas and George.
They both hold senior positions at the family firm.
Ambitious personality
“Those of us who were fortunate to know Mr Dellaportas were blessed by his joie de vivre, caring nature and enduring legacy,” a company statement said.
His funeral will be held on 18 July in the Athens suburb of Voula.
Dellaportas set up Meadway as a ship brokerage in 1988. An outgoing and ambitious personality, it did not take him long to expand into shipowning as well.
Setting out with a small, elderly cargoship, his company today controls a fleet of 12 owned vessels from handymax to kamsarmax size.
Those of us who were fortunate to know Mr Dellaportas were blessed by his joie de vivre, caring nature and enduring legacy
“Because my whole life was as a shipbroker, I knew what the market was thirsty for,” Dellaportas told TradeWinds in a 2013 interview.
Singapore office
Meadway’s owned fleet is complemented by about 40 additional vessels on medium or long-term charters, which the company controls on behalf of their mostly Japanese owners out of its Singapore office.
Dellaportas set up the Singapore branch in 2009. It was the first Greek-controlled chartering office in the Asian city-state at the time.
Nine years later, the family replicated the move by opening a new branch in Dubai, with a view to offer services to clients in the Middle East and Africa.
