Meet The Greek Shipping Billionaires Getting Rich Off Russian Oil

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Forbes

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4.8 • 6 Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2024

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

Sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine sent tanker values soaring, boosting the fortunes of these Greek maritime moguls to record highs and minting at least seven new 10-figure fortunes. Forbes estimates there are now at least 12 shipping billionaires in Greece, more than at any other time in history. Seven of them are making their debut in Forbes’ billionaire ranks. They are worth a collective $32 billion—the equivalent of roughly 12% of the country’s gross domestic product. These tycoons are the latest in a line of swashbuckling pioneers hailing back to iconic figures like Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos, who launched the global oil tanker trade after World War II and became famous for their glamorous marriages and lifestyles. This newer group has been in shipping for decades but kept a lower profile. (Despite their success, none would speak to Forbes, while their representatives either declined to comment or did not respond.) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Western sanctions on Russian oil send handker value soaring and helped boost the fortunes of Greek shippers to new highs.
0:07.0	Forbes now counts a record 12 Greek shipping billionaires,
0:10.0	seven of them making their debut for the first time.
0:13.0	Hi everybody, I'm Britting Lewis with Forbes Breaking News.
0:18.0	Joining me now as my Forbes colleague Giacomo Tonini.
0:21.0	Giacomo, thanks so much for joining me.
0:23.5	Thanks for having me today.
0:24.5	You wrote about Greek shipping magnates
0:26.3	who have become billionaires in the industry.
0:29.0	As you pointed out in your reporting,
0:30.4	Greece has always had a presence in the shipping industry but there's been a
0:33.5	boom really in the past few years so can you talk about why?
0:36.7	Yeah so Greece has a really long history with shipping going back centuries.
0:41.8	Obviously that's due to its location right along
0:44.5	strategic trade routes and in the Mediterranean close to the back sea as well and one
0:50.9	really important point for Greek shipping today is after the Second World War,
0:55.0	really the pioneers of oil tankers and trading oil by sea were Greek shippers.
1:02.0	You know, famous names like Aristotle Lanesis, right, which everyone
1:04.8	knows and they've really been able to continue that leading position for decades
1:09.6	since the 1950s and 40s and today we have you know a lot of you know some of the largest
1:15.8	shipping firms in the world are Greek not just with tankers but sort of looking
1:19.3	across different types of ships and shipping.
	...

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