Major Greek owner Angeliki Frangou has rejected criticism about her newly consolidated Navios being a hotch-potch of assets and defended its diversified nature as the way forward.

Stifel analyst Ben Nolan used the word "conglomerate" to describe bulker and containership outfit Navios Maritime Partners, which became the largest US-listed company by vessel count earlier this month after gobbling up affiliated tanker player Navios Maritime Acquisition.

However, Frangou said that label was off the mark when interviewed by Clarksons Platou analyst Omar Nokta in Athens.

"'Conglomerate' is a collection of unrelated businesses," Frangou told a MarineMoney conference on Wednesday — the first to take place in physical attendance since February last year.

Frangou added: "Basically the same skill-set applies to all businesses", from containers to bulkers and tankers.

"I will not call it a conglomerate, I’ll call it a blue-water maritime transportation company with the advantage of getting even returns while you have uneven performance in the different segments."

She said Navios Maritime Partners should rather be considered a "diversified and sustainable proxy for world trade" that works well as "a good hedge on inflation as well".

She stressed that dispensing with the traditional pure-play model, which she described as "challenged", allows her to focus on earnings optimisation and more flexibility in chartering and acquisitions.

Earnings from booming bulkers and containerships represented a "strong currency" to buy up the Navios Acquisition tanker fleet, which is currently at the low part of the cycle.

In sentiment shared by other conference participants, Frangou said she also expected tanker markets to pick up as global travel recovers from the pandemic, even though it was difficult to say when exactly.

"To judge from the number of people who have travelled to come to this conference … I think the tanker sector will do well," she said.

Shareholders seem to share Frangou’s optimism. Navios Partners’ shares appreciated considerably since the Navios merger deal, at a faster clip than pure-play bulker or boxship peers.

The new Navios Maritime Partners is a 143-ship goliath worth an estimated $4.5bn and a combined market capitalisation of some $822m based on current share prices.