A new dry-cargo broking shop is set to open in Athens next week, staffed with shipbrokers who departed recently from Lightship Chartering and Arrow Shipbroking.
GR8 Chartering Hellas will handle handysize bulker carriers up to ultramaxes worldwide and will commence operations from its office on Leoforos Syngrou on Monday.
The desk will comprise five brokers who worked previously at Lightship’s offices in Athens and Genevan as well as three brokers who left Arrow for the new start-up.
Brokers Lambros Vergos, Arkadios Svolakis, Komninos Svolakis, and Theodoris Vavatsioulas have left Lightship in Athens to join the new venture. Harys Angelakos joins from Lightship in Geneva.
They will be joined by Konstantinos Apostolopoulos, Thodoris Danikas and Theodosios Vasilakis, who have left Arrow in the Greek capital.
All eight will be equal partners in the new venture. They have also taken on a trainee.
“The reason why we left is not that we weren’t satisfied with our salaries — and obviously, we’re not gonna be competitors to Arrow or Lightship, these are big shops, and we’re just eight people that are starting in our company,” Vasilakis told TradeWinds.
“We just want to have a more boutique shop, which can serve our clients ... to meet their needs, and to be able to satisfy or solve any problems that may arise in the future.”
Expansion plans
He said GR8 plans to expand its base in Athens, first and foremost. The company hopes to have doubled its headcount by the end of this year.
“The name of the company is GR8 — it is Greek brokers, eight brokers and we’re all in this together,” Vasilakis said.
Lightship’s CEO Sune Fladberg confirmed the Athens departures when approached for comment by TradeWinds on Tuesday.
