New Board of Directors for the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS)

The annual general assembly and elections for a new board of directors of the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS) was held amid a climate of unity and optimism on Thursday, Feb. 6.

The new board is expected to convene under the leadership of Melina Travlos, who came picked up the most votes by members during the election process, and who was re-elected as UGS president for a second term, as was expected.

The new UGS board of directors

“We are united and united means we are strong. Our Union is a beacon of our unity. The closer we are to the Union, the stronger our light is, inside and outside Greece,” Ms Travlos said, during her address at the general assembly, which was held in the packed amphitheater of the Eugenides Foundation, where a high attendance and quorum (2,099 votes were cast out of a total of 2,169 registered members) was ascertained for the presentation of UGS’s activities and key issues to members.

The new UGS board of directors, which represents the biggest ocean-going shipping community in the world, includes several prominent names in Greek shipping. The first 10 elected members, in the order of their vote tally, are: Melina Travlos, Nikolaos Veniamis, Nikolaos Martinos, Georgios Youroukos, Angeliki Frangou, Evangelos M. Marinakis, George Margaronis, George Karageorgiou, George Economou and Michael Chandris.

Specifically, the 30 members of the new board of directors, in descending order in terms of votes (in parentheses, surname first), are:

Travlos Melina (55,565), Veniamis Nikolaos (48,727), Martinos Nikolaos (46,942), Youroukos Georgios (37,264), Frangou Angeliki (36,661), Marinakis Evangelos M. (33,930), Margaronis George (30,981), Karageorgiou George (30,692), Economou George (30,020), Chandris Michael (29,490), Prokopiou Ioanna (29,018), Constantacopoulos Constantinos (28,488), Lemos Antonios Thomas (27,558), Coustas John (27,164), Kanellakis Antonis (25,624), Angelicoussis Maria (24,939), Angelopoulos George (24,876), Lyras John (24,614), Paliou Semiramis (24,151), Xylas Ioannis (24,082), Frangista Maria (23,809), Pappas Alexandros (23,608), Fafalios Dimitrios (22,382), Caroussis Constandinos (22,079), Livanos Stavros (21,591), Pittas Aristides (20,025), Nomikos Markos (19,643), Sarakakis Dimitrios (17,830), Papagiannopoulos Vasileios (17,082), and Lekanidis Ioannis (15,105).

Ioannis Koumantaros (13,157), Georgios Makymichalos (9,621), and Efstathios Filippos (8,336) were not elected.

New targets for Greek shipping

Speaking at the UGS general assembly, President Melina Travlos took stock of the outgoing board of directors’ work, while setting new goals for Greek shipping.

“We have withstood every challenge and responded effectively to every new development. Our shipping industry remained and remains the leader — indeed, against unequal and powerful competition, which stretches from east to west in various forms, and from state-owned shipping companies to large multinational business conglomerates,” she underlined.

Referring to the challenge of “green transition” and the role of the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS), she emphasized that “our Union is present, strategically and substantively; in close cooperation with the ministry of maritime affairs we are co-shaping the national strategy. We are also instrumental in formulating international shipping’s positions through the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).