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Shipping is arguably the oldest form of occupation of the Greeks. It is the second largest contributor to the Greek economy after tourism and forms the backbone of world shipping. Its key centers of operation are Pireaus, London and New York. It flies under a variety of flags, including flags of convenience. However, some Greek shipping is gradually returning to Greece following the improved legislative framework governing its operations and the improved infrastructure.

Prominent Greek shipping families include Onassis, Niarchos, Latsis, Goulandris, Livanos, Nomikos, Theodoracopoulos, Milonas, Angelopoulos, and Haji-Ioannou. Other smaller scale contemporary shipowners include Kollakis, Panagiotidis, Economou, Los, Tsakos, Vafias, and Georgiopoulos.

Contents 1 Families 2 The Greek Shipowner 3 External links 4 Links

Onassis and Niarchos where known rivals during the 20th century and both controlled fleets surpassing one million tonage.

The Latsis family has been in shipping for quite a while. It all started with John Latsis, known to be an ingenious businessman and philanthropist. John Latsis built an empire out of nothing and his son Spiros took over with great success expanding the empire even further than shipping into banking and finance.

Goulandris is a very well respected family in shipping and has also been around for a long time. The Goulandris brothers started out from the Greek island of Andros and built a multi billion dollar empire.

John Theodoracopoulos was a well known shipping magnate of the 20th century who controlled a large fleet from New York. Theodoracopoulos started out his fleet buy buying many Liberty ships from the Americans during WWII.

The Los family of Chios became prominent beginning in the early 19th century with Matheos Los and continues today.

• Greek freighter DIAMANTIS, sunk on 03 October 1939 by German U-Boat U-35

See also, Economy of Greece