Theo Paphitis is not renowned for his maritime connections.
He is better known in the UK as the star of the reality TV show Dragons' Den, in which start-up businesses pitch ideas in the hope of winning funding.
But the Cypriot-born British retail magnate appears to be building his shipping credentials with his appointment as chancellor of the UK’s Solent University, one of the country's leading maritime training centres.
One of his first engagements was at the naming ceremony of the latest vessel to join the UK’s largest fleet of miniature manned ships.
The Eternity is a 10-metre long model of an aframax tanker that will operate at the Southampton-based university's acclaimed Ship Handling Centre.
After pouring champagne on the model's bow, Paphitis took the helm on its maiden voyage.
The 1:25 scale model joins 10 other vessels that are used for training budding ship’s officers and pilots at a purpose-built inland lake at the Warsash School of Maritime Science and Engineering on the outskirts of Southampton.
These vessels are part of Solent’s £43m ($56.8m) investment in maritime training provision at the university.
“Ships are getting larger and waterways and ports more crowded, so scale-model training is more important than ever,” said Solent’s deputy vice chancellor Julie Hall.
The Eternity, which was designed and built by UK-based QinetiQ, is soon to be joined by a new model based on a suezmax tanker.
