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The number of Greek shipping magnates and of those employed in this business is almost proportional to the Greek share in the world merchant shipping, as stated by the British online edition Lloyd's List. It presents 15 Greek shipping magnates and persons with positions in business, who are on the list of the 100 most influential people in the shipping industry in 2013. Based on transport capacity, Greek cargo ships comprise 16% of the world fleet.

First among the Greek ship owners and fifth in the overall ranking is John Angelicoussis, owner of Angelicoussis Shipping Group, followed by Angeliki Frangou, Navios Group, who is eighth on the list and George Economou (DryShips) who is ninth.

John Angelicoussis manages a huge fleet consisting of 93 vessels, including 45 commercial and 41 fuel tanks. The 65-year-old ship owner continues the family tradition. The company was founded by his father Antonis who was a successful businessman and was awarded by the governments of Greece and the UK for his heroic participation in the Second World War. According to sources, 80 of the 93 ships owned by John Angelicoussis are sailing under the Greek flag. He continues to invest and has recently focused on ships carrying liquefied natural gas. In early July, he signed a contract with the South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering for the building of two new ships, namely LNG Carriers, with a capacity of 173,400 cubic metres and a total value of $414 million. It is expected that they will be submitted to the subsidiary of Angelicoussis’ consortium, Maran Gas, in the second half of 2016.

Equally intensive is the development of the companies owned by Angeliki Frangou, whose fleet has added another 50 ships to its vessels. Just a day earlier, company Navios Europe, announced that it had reached an agreement with HSH Nordbank to buy 10 ships, including five tanks and five freighters, totalling €219 million.

Angeliki Frangou is often called "the female Aristotle Onassis". Back in 1990, in Brazil, at the age of 25, she bought the obsolete freighter "Foulvia" for $1.5 million, thus starting up her company, which placed her in Fortune magazine’s list of the 50 most influential businesswomen in 2011. She is the daughter of Nikos Frangos, a captain and major ship owner from the island of Chios, which is famous for its maritime traditions. Today the fleet owned by Angeliki Frangou manages 119 ships.

George Economou has succeeded in maintaining the top position of his company DryShips Inc., despite the crisis in the sectors in which it is operating, namely cargo and fuel tanks. He has managed to skilfully deal with the debts of one of his companies, which is listed on the Athens Stock Exchange. An important role in his business is played by the subsidiary OceanRig, which deals in platforms for oil drilling. Economou is not a successor to a family tradition. Being the son of the owner of a stationery company, he is a typical example of a businessman who has created his company alone, his only "tool" being his diploma in shipbuilding and applied engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT.

According to media reports, he has expressed interest in participating in the subsea drilling in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, the aim of which is to explore the presence of hydrocarbons.

The other Greeks on the list of the most influential persons in the world merchant shipping are Peter Livanos (22^nd) and George Prokopiou (23^rd) whereas the current president of the Association of Greek Ship Owners, Theodoros Veniamis, is 51^st followed by the successor to the family tradition in the transportation of goods, Konstantinos Konstandakopoulos (57^th) and Nikos Tsakos (61^st). The list of Greek ship owners also includes Peter Georgiopoulos (69^th), owner of Olympiakos football club Vangelis Marinakis (73^rd), Simeon Palios (77^th), Petros Pappas (80^th), Yiannis Platsidakis (83^rd), Dimitris Melisanidis (94^th) and Haralambos Fafalios (96^th).

This year Lloyd's decided to put at the top of the list the seafarers, as the normal course of world shipping depends on them. Second is Emanuele Lauro, owner of the consortium Scorpio, which has been able to significantly increase the power of its companies within one year. Next are Maersk’s heads, Nils Andersen and Soren Skou, and owner of SeaTankers John Fredriksen, whose companies have ordered 80 new vessels, is ranked third.