Wilhelmsen Ship Management held its first-ever event targeted specifically at a Greek audience.
More than 70 high-level managers, executives and owners including Semiramis Paliou, whose Diana Shipping is a long-standing Wilhelmsen partner, attended a shipping seminar co-hosted by the company and the Norwegian embassy in Greece.
The stated object of the Piraeus event was “to foster conversation and learning about a variety of topics from decarbonisation to insuring yourself against the long-term impact of war risks”.
“We consider Greek shipping one of the most important markets to develop our activities,” Wilhelmsen Ship Management president and chief executive Carl Schou said during the presentation.
Schou’s company manages more than 450 ships with about 9,200 seafarers on board.
“Our aim is to expand and increase the number of ships already under management while at the same time expanding in sectors like natural gas carriers and tankers,” Schou said.
Participants included representatives of Greek companies with a major presence in gas carriers and tankers, including Dorian LPG, GasLog, Minerva Marine and Capital Maritime.
Greeks are already the world’s biggest tanker owners and are rapidly expanding into the transport of LNG. Diana Wilhelmsen Management, a 50:50 joint venture between Wilhelmsen and Diana Shipping, moved its headquarters to Greece last year.
Wilhelmsen has already taken steps to strengthen its position in the tanker market in other parts of the world, with a deal earlier this year to acquire a majority stake in Hamburg-based Ahrenkiel Tankers.
“Forming strong partnerships between Norway and Greece is a potent way of minimising risks and exploiting comparative advantages in today’s volatile market,” Frode Overland Andersen, Norway’s ambassador to Greece, said during the Piraeus event on 30 June.
Seminar participants also heard expert presentations from Charles Haskell, programme manager of Lloyd’s Register’s Maritime Decarbonisation Hub, Hugo Wilson of Affinity Carbon Solutions and Anders Hovelsrud, who is insurance director at Den Norske Krigsforsikring.
