8 Congress of Shipping Maritime Economies

REPORT PRESENTATIONS AND PHOTOS OF SPEAKERS of the 8th Maritime Conference co-organized by Maritime Economies and the Institute of Maritime & Economic Studies
12 Distinguished Speakers, 21 Honorary Sponsors, 752 Applications, 432 Participants

The work of the 8th Maritime Conference of the maritime newspaper Maritime Economies and the Institute of Maritime & Economic Studies was concluded with particular success, with the theme:
Liberty Press

“Shipping Finance & Capital Markets” Shipping as Private or Listed? The Shipping Finance Alternatives in 2017
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which took place at the Hilton on Friday 9/1/17, as part of the international Athens Money Show.

Our conference was addressed to the entire Maritime Industry. Invited again this time were shipowners, executives of shipping companies, executives of oil companies, executives of stock companies and banks, distinguished representatives of the business community, international analysts, Greek and foreign journalists, as well as students of Maritime and Economic studies.
Shortly before the completion of the 5th year of circulation of the newspaper, the organizers of the international Money Show organized every year in Athens, were inspired by a theme that was based more on free discussion in the form of debate between the speakers, than on sterile and tedious presentations.

The first session moderated by Mr. Giorgos Xiradakis, Managing Director of XRTC and participants Apostolos Poulovasilis (Chief Operating Officer at Eletson Corporation), Spyros Kapralos (ceo OF OCEANBULK CONTAINERS), Haris Kosmatos, (Corporate Development Officer, of TSAKOS ENERGY) , Stamatis Tsantanis (Chairman & CEO, Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp), Dr. Kostas Rokkos (Chairman – CEO of TST INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING S.A), Giorgos Gourdomichalis (Managing Director of Phoenix Shipping & Trading SA), Giorgos Alexandratos (CEO of APOLLINIAN LINES & Hellenic Short Sea Ship owners Association) had as his subject whether the you are a listed shipping company on an international stock exchange, it is a wise and efficient choice, and a solution to the effort to raise new funds.
The speakers representatives of listed companies "confronted" the representatives of non-listed companies, concluding through a fruitful dialogue the advantages and disadvantages of such a choice
At the same time, and as shipping in 2016 touched its all-time lows since the age of charters, the opportunity was given to both the audience and the speakers to develop their views on the future of the market.

In the second session, the panel consisted of Orestis Schinas, (Professor of Shipping and Ship Finance, HAMBURG SCHOOL OF B. ADMIN), Giorgos Kofinakos (Senior Representative of STORM HARBOR LONDON FINANCE) and Christos Timageni (Partner at TIMAGENIS LAW FIRM).

Moderated by Mr. Thodoris Chouliaras, president of the Institute of Maritime & Economic Studies, the 2nd Session dealt with alternative financing solutions given that the classic banking solution is not capable of serving the increased capital needs of the Maritime Industry by itself.

The speeches of the speakers highlighted interesting perspectives but also alternatives that until now were less popular or preferred by shipowners.
The conference once again attracted the interest of 432 delegates who divided into 2 sessions satisfied both the expectations of the organizers and the speakers who saw a lively and at the same time anxious audience bombarding them with their questions

A big thank you to our 21 sponsors and supporters, without whose contribution this conference could not have been completed successfully.