Attica Group, the parent company of SUPERFAST FERRIES, BLUE STAR FERRIES and HELLENIC SEAWAYS, has won three awards, Gold & Bronze, in the GREEK HOSPITALITY AWARDS 2022 organized by ETHOS MEDIA.
The official announcement of winners took place on Friday, October 21^st 2022 and Attica Group was honored with the following awards:
Gold Award in category «Best Greek Coastal Shipping Company»
Gold Award In category “Best Internet Sales Channel”
Bronze Award in category «Best Digital Advertising and Performance Campaign»
Attica Group was voted as the top Greek Coastal Shipping Company, maintaining its leading position in Greece and in Europe whereas at the same time was rewarded for its decision to introduce digital media in the dynamic promotion of its services, resulting to a leading presence in digital communication as well.
Attica Group is engaged in passenger shipping through SUPERFAST FERRIES, BLUE STAR FERRIES, HELLENIC SEAWAYS and AFRICA MOROCCO LINK operating 35 vessels providing modern, high-quality transportation services in Greece and abroad. Attica’s vessels serve 60 unique destinations in 4 countries, connecting 71 ports transporting over 7 million passengers, 1 million passenger vehicles and 400,000 trucks every year.

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In September 2022, head-haul and regional export volumes were down 9.3% y/y according to Container Trade Statistics. Head-haul trades fell 15.5% whereas regional trades were down 0.7%. At the same time, volumes were 0.2% lower than in September 2019. The volume decline represented the first month since June 2020 to see lower volumes compared with the same month in 2019 and could be a warning that laid up ships and further freight rate reductions are on the horizon.  
 “In September 2022, head-haul and regional trade volumes were lower than in 2021 into all import regions except the Far East. Remarkably, volumes into North America, which led the surge in volumes during COVID, saw the greatest loss at -20.6% y/y,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO. 
For container shipping the head-haul and regional trade volumes are the key drivers of ship demand and profitability. A head-haul trade is the direction of an interregional trade with the highest volume, such as Far East to North America. A regional trade is an intraregional trade such as within Asia. During 2021 and 2022 the head-haul and regional trades have also been the drivers of port congestion, which further increased ship demand and tightened the supply/demand balance in favour of the liner operators. 
Transpacific eastbound volumes fell 24.5% y/y and contributed with just shy of 50% of the total drop in head-haul and regional volumes vs. 2021. In 2021, September volumes were up 27.4% on 2019 but are now 3.8% lower.  

Declining volumes, growing fleet

In total, volumes in September were 1.1 million TEU lower than a year ago and 20 out of 28 region-to-region trades showed negative growth. At the same time, 13 trades recorded lower volumes than in September 2019. Out of the top 10 region-to-region trades which cover nearly 90% of all volumes, the trades into Europe are unsurprisingly doing the worst compared to 2019. The Far East-Europe trade was down 18.8% while the Intra Europe trade declined 11.5%. 
The abrupt slowdown in volumes to North America and Europe comes after 9-12 months of the fastest increase on record in business inventories in both the US and the EU. It is therefore likely that the lower volumes reflect a need for businesses to both trim inventories and adjust ongoing imports to expected lower sales as prolonged high inflation is taking a toll on consumers and businesses.
“No matter the reason for the low volumes, at this level of volumes, the remaining congestion that has helped to prop-up the supply/demand balance should dissipate quickly. The liner operators will then be left with lower volumes than in 2019, a fleet that has grown 11.8% since then, an orderbook set to add 9.9% to the fleet in 2023, and poor prospects for the global economy. EEXI and CII regulations may absorb as much as 10% of the fleet in 2023, but unless the markets surprise positively, we must still expect to see numerous laid up ships or freight rates that continue to move quickly downwards, or both,” says Rasmussen. 

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Greek shipping is not only dominant in controlling the biggest fleet in the world but also in the field of female maritime executives.
WISTA International (Women's International Shipping and Trading Association) elected their new President, Elpi Petraki, from WISTA Hellas, at its Annual General Meeting, on 26^th October, in Geneva, Switzerland who succeeded Despina Theodosiou, another one distinguished Greek-Cypriot woman from the maritime field.
The nominees for the position of President were Elpi Petraki, WISTA Hellas, and Alexandra Anagnostis-Irons, WISTA USA.
WISTA International consists of 56 National WISTA Association (NWA) and each one is represented by the President or a delegate at AGM and casts their vote for their country's choice for the President.
Newly elected President of WISTA International, Elpi Petraki, Operations, Chartering & Business Development Manager at ENEA Management, declared: "I am truly honoured to have been elected as President of WISTA International. Diversity and inclusion in maritime have never been in the spotlight like today and whilst much has been achieved in recent times, there is still a great deal to be done. WISTA International has a powerful voice that must be heard, continuing to raise awareness for the incredible contribution women make to the industry.
I look forward to working with the WISTA NWA's and other international bodies to address how our organisation can support evolving objectives - such as decarbonisation, digitalisation and attracting new talent – and provide equal and equitable opportunities for all."
The former President of WISTA International, Despina Theodosiou, with a five-year term and two consecutive mandates between 2017-2022, had a standing ovation at the AGM meeting. Following the new president's announcement, she addressed the WISTA members and spoke about some of the highlights during her time as president.
"After five years, the time has come for me to hang up my hat as President of WISTA International. First, I'd like to say a huge thank you to the other members of the WISTA International Executive Committee, who have provided a tremendous amount of support over the years. Secondly, I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to the Presidents of the 56 National WISTA Associations for entrusting me to continue to deliver WISTA's mission. It has been a pleasure to work with you all.
WISTA is committed to creating change. Looking back at the work we have achieved within WISTA International, we have made every opportunity to encourage that change and level the playing field for everyone. As President, I had the privilege of working with many organisations to help identify solutions and promote the benefits diversity can deliver, including the International Maritime Organization, APEC SEN, Maritime SheEO and the International Chamber of Shipping.
WISTA was one of the founding partners of the European Commission's Platform for Change and in 2018, we secured Consultative Status with the IMO. This was a significant moment for WISTA International, allowing us to formally contribute to discussions related to increasing capacity within the maritime industry by showcasing the incredible work women are undertaking and providing the opportunity to discuss diversity, inclusion and the empowerment of women with the administrations responsible for shaping global maritime regulations.
WISTA has been working closely with the IMO to promote greater diversity and inclusion in the maritime industry, which has seen the two organisations collaborate on several initiatives, including the first Women in Maritime Survey. Furthermore, over the last five years, WISTA membership has continued to grow. The number of NWAs has increased from 39 to 56, with new representation established in parts of the world that are more challenging for women. This is down to the incredible amount of work and energy NWAs all around the world have put into addressing industry challenges, supporting others in the sector and being advocates for change. We should all be immensely proud of what we have achieved over the years, especially in light of the challenges faced during covid. WISTA and the drive to create a more diverse and sustainable maritime sector will continue to be a key focus for me moving forward, but for now, it's time to pass on the baton to the next President of WISTA International Elpi Petraki and I wish her every success in her Presidency."
The Nominations Committee also announced the new Secretary of WISTA International at the AGM. The candidates for this position were Yasmina Rauber from WISTA Switzerland and Jemilat Mahamah from WISTA Ghana, who was elected.
For the position of ExCo Member, there were three nominees: Dafne Anghelidis representing WISTA Argentina, Raimah Chowdhury (WISTA Bangladesh) and Ify Akerele, WISTA Nigeria. Dafne Anghelides and Raimah Chowdhury were elected as WISTA International ExCo members.

Caption: Elpi Petraki, the new president of WISTA International
Caption: Despina Theodosiou, the former president of WISTA International

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Capital Ship Management Corp. added to its fleet the newbuilding vessel M/T ‘Alterego’, a 300,000 dwt, eco-type crude oil, scrubber fitted VLCC tanker, built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, South Korea. It is the second of two ammonia and LNG fuel ready sister ships delivered in 2022.
The vessels are Tier III compliant for reduced Nox emissions, assigned ABS ENVIRO notation as well as ABS Ammonia Fuel Ready and LNG Fuel Ready Notations and equipped with IHM notation for safe recycling, thus becoming two of the most environmentally friendly, technologically advanced and efficient vessels in the global VLCC fleet.
About Capital Ship Management Corp.
Capital Ship Management Corp. operates a fleet of 39 tankers (12 VLCCs, 15 Aframaxes, 11 MR/Handy product tankers and 1 small tanker) with a total dwt of 5.95 million tons approx. Capital has extensive experience in managing various vessel types and sizes including all tanker segments (VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax/LR2, Panamax/LR1, MR/Handy and small tankers), dry bulk segments (Cape, Panamax, Handymax and Handy), as well as OBOs and containers.
You can see vessel video here 

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During Maritime Cyprus 2022, maritime learning and operational technology company, Ocean Technologies Group (OTG), signed a new cooperation agreement with Safe Bulkers Management Ltd. and Safety Management Overseas S.A, the managers of Safe Bulkers Inc., with the aim of helping their pool of seafarers to focus on their learning and assessment needs.
Safe Bulkers is a leading international provider of marine dry-bulk transportation services and it will implement the Ocean Learning Platform (OLP) initially on a pilot basis and then gradually introduce it to the entire fleet.
The OLP will provide a wider range of interactive maritime learning solutions, as well as introducing new tools for competence management and crew assessment. The system will build and schedule Safe Bulkers' Managers seafarer training matrices and provide advanced digital performance appraisals and reporting tools which will assist in evaluating results, identify specific needs, aim for continuous improvement and, at the same time, fully address all industry and customers' requirements.
OTG's "Ocean Learning Platform” will power the company’s learning and assessment requirements giving Safe Bulkers access to OTG’s Seagull, Videotel, Marlins and MTS training brands. 
Safe Bulkers believe that this transition will represent a significant improvement in their operations with seafarer training information and data flowing seamlessly, easily integrating with their platforms and enhancing their digitalisation strategy even further.
"We are excited to strengthen the partnership between Ocean Technologies Group and Safe Bulkers and look forward to fully integrating their system to our crew training operations,” stated Dr Loukas Barmparis, President of Safe Bulkers Inc.
"We’re delighted that Safe Bulkers has decided to implement the OTG platform. We believe that our platform provides the broadest and most comprehensive range of maritime specific digital learning and assessment solutions available today and which will equip their seafarers with the knowledge and resources they need to comply with increasing industry and ESG expectations. We look forward to building and enhancing our cooperation with Safe Bulkers,” said Apostolos Poulovassilis, Director at OTG.

Image: l-r Apostolos Poulovassilis, Director (Greece) at OTG shakes hands with Dr Loukas Barmparis,  President of Safe Bulkers Inc.

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The dinner in honor of the Supporters of The Propeller Club, Port of Piraeus, was held on Friday, October 21 at the Grand Hyatt Athens Hotel and was attended by 220 guests including 20 new members of our newly established Student Port.
During the event all the Supporters of the Amver Awards 2021 as well as those of the 96th International Convention & Conference, 125 in total, were honored.
The distinguished guests were initially welcomed by Governor, Mrs. Dorothea Ioannou, followed by a greeting by the President, Mr. Costis Frangoulis.
“Without you, we would not be able to implement our vision and goals, which are constantly getting bigger and better”, Mr. Frangoulis said, among other things, in his speech, addressing the supporters of the Club and added: “A big warm and heartfelt “Thank you” for your valuable – essential to our existence – support. I am sure you feel satisfied and happy that your support is utilized in the best possible way”.
Our Club proves its qualitative and quantitative renewal, with well over 750 active members, a figure that represents an increase of active members by 80%. At the same time, it is worth noting that our Donations and Scholarships program, which is one of the main founding purposes of the Club, had a 20% growth this year.
The evening ended with a music program by the Odin’s House Project band.

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 The Issue of Extensive Carbon Emissions in Shipping

It is clear that excessive carbon emissions are a global issue affecting all countries, industries and people. While shipping may not be a leading contributor, it is still predicted to generate roughly 940 million tons of CO2 per year and is responsible for about 2.5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (3rd IMO GHG study). This is projected to rise at a rate of 50%-250% by 2050 unless measures are implemented.
As the shipping industry continues to grow, so do carbon emissions – unless changes are made now. Keeping in mind that, with a lifespan of 20 years for the average ship, it is the current fleet that will produce over 50% of the total emissions by 2050. New technologies and ship designs may solve the issue for the future, but today’s vessels need their own approach – and it is in data that the answers will be found.

GHG Regulations & the CII rating

In 2018, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) developed an initial strategy for reducing Green House Gases (GHG) emissions from ships.
One of the goals of this strategy is to reduce CO2 emissions per transport work, as an average across international shipping, by 40% minimum by 2030 compared to 2008.
A key tool that will be used to achieve these targets is the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII). Using data from 2023 onwards, ships will report their Annual Efficiency Ratio (AER) at the end of the year. This value and the ship type will result in a CII rating given from A (the best) to E (the worst). The CII rating will have serious consequences on the commercial attractiveness of the ship, not to mention time limits for how long you can remain in the lower bands.

Optimizing Vessel CO 2 Output and Fuel Consumption

According to IMO’s initial strategy, there are multiple ways to reduce the carbon footprint of a vessel. These ways include voyage optimization, energy management, speed optimization and many others (see the figure below).
Squeezed between the pressures of the economic crisis, an oversupply of ships in certain sectors, and an onslaught of regional and international regulations aimed at reducing shipping’s impact on climate change, many ship owners and managers have been looking for innovative solutions that will help them comply with regulations and at the same time increase their influence in the industry.

Oriani Partners with VesOPS to Help Greek Shipping Companies Reduce their GHG Emissions

VesOPS has developed a software focused on the detailed performance analysis of the ship. Designed to work with anything from one daily noon-report to huge volumes of high frequency sensor data – the software compares live performance against a calculated baseline to provide the owner/operator a clear understanding of how the vessel is performing and what factors may be affecting it.
With this methodology the program provides accurate proven fuel consumption tables for multiple different conditions. This in turn supports operational decision making, including when to perform hull cleaning and propellor polishing, as well as commercial aspects, such as achieving best charter party terms for your fleet with a balance between daily hire rate and CII rating impact.
The key takeaway – use VesOPS to understand your vessel and fleet’s current CII rating and predict how that rating will be affected by future voyages. Take control of your operations from now to ensure that from 2023 onwards you will not be impacted by the ratings scheme and subsequent penalties.
VesOPS has trusted Oriani Hellas to officially represent them in Greece.
Oriani Hellas is a trusted partner that helps shipping companies in Greece and the EMEA acquire competitive advantage by supporting their digital transformation journey.
Today Oriani Hellas provides 12 selective innovative solutions that all have one common purpose: the digital transformation of the maritime industry by bringing together seamanship and big data.

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Despite the recent downward market corrections Erasmus Shipinvest Group (ESI) has spared no effort to get the 1st ever Feeder containership Newbuilding delivered from the top-class Japanese shipyard.
c/v Feeder Ace (Kyokuyo Shipyard-1096 TEU) joined the company’s dynamic and state-of-the-art management fleet, dedicatedly serving one of the world’s largest and most respectful liner-major companies for the next multiple years. The vessel is the newest eco-designed with EEDI Phase-3 compliance with long-term sustainable operations and good trading performance for the company’s premier customers.
The vessel has Vietnamese and Filipino crews onboard.
In the LPG carriers sector Erasmus has recently acquired M/V “Bougainville” which is the 2nd LPG Gas Carrier (2014 built by Murakami Hide, 5.000cbm fully-pressurized type).
It is just about half year time after Erasmus Shipinvest Group’s takeover of the 1st-ever LPG gas ship “Astrid” and the company hopes to see more LPG gas vessels to come under Erasmus Gas fleet in the sustainable future.
“Bougainville” just freshly passed drydock surveys in Papua New Guinea and will serve her Switzerland & France based Time Charterers customer, being one of the world’s largest gas-trading companies, trading mainly Australia and New Zealand areas. The ship will be commercially managed by Erasmus group’s offices out of Greece & Japan, China and Vietnam, with Indian crews onboard.
Erasmus Shipinvest Group (ESI) has been set up by Zhongyi John Su, started trading since 2010, with focus on oceangoing dry-bulk segments in the maritime transport sector, as well as container feeder and LPG gas carrier domains, on assets owning/management and chartering operations.
With over 500 seafarers and more than 40 staffs ashore, the company serves global commodity-trading and industrial customers from various offices in the shipping centers of Greece, Singapore, China, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland.
Erasmus currently manages and operates a “state-of-art” fleet of modern Panamax/Kamsarmax/Ultramax/Handysize bulkers, feeder containerships and LPG Gas Carriers in the pipeline.
ESI takes full advantage of the management’s broad shipping and financial knowledge as well as their business network ranging from Europe to the Far East.

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Excluding intra-EU trade, the European Union’s average monthly clean oil product imports amounted to 10.0 million tonnes in 2019 but declined to 9.3 million tonnes in 2020 and 2021. Due to the high import volumes in July to October, the 2022 year-to-date average monthly volumes have reached 10.3 million tonnes, exceeding 2019 volumes.  
“Latest early February 2023, the EU will need to have found new suppliers for nearly 35% of its clean oil product import volumes as the bloc’s sanctions against Russian oil take effect. Russia, on the other hand, must attempt to find new buyers for approximately 60% of their exports,” says Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO. 
Despite the upcoming sanctions, the EU’s average monthly imports from Russia have year-to-date reached 3.5 million tonnes and increased 10.3% over last year. However, during September and October, the average monthly Russia to EU volumes reduced to 3.0 million tonnes although total EU import volumes increased to 11.0 and 11.8 million tonnes in September and October respectively.  
“The increase in clean oil product imports from Asia to the EU have more than replaced lost volumes from Russia. The volumes from Asia to the EU have increased since July and in October hit 4.4 million tonnes, up from the recent monthly average of 2.1 million tonnes. Asia has therefore been the main supplier of the EU’s clean oil product imports since September, overtaking Russia,” says Rasmussen.
While Russia remains the single largest supplier of clean oil products to the EU, it appears that buyers in the EU have already begun the process of finding new suppliers. So far, Saudi Arabia has delivered most of the increase in Asian volumes, but India, China, and South Korea are also contributing. 
As mentioned in our Shipping Number of the Week in week 40, the newly increased export quota for Chinese refineries should increase availability of clean oil products in Asia. Reacting to the new export quotas, China’s crude oil imports rose 30% m/m and 24% y/y in October, hitting the highest level since July 2020. 
“As the remaining clean oil product volumes from Russia to the EU are replaced, average haul for product tankers into the EU will continue to increase. The muted 2023 growth prospects for the global economy, and particularly the EU, will weigh on demand but as effective capacity supply growth will be very minimal (and possibly negative), we still expect further improvement in trading conditions for product tankers,” says Rasmussen.

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The smallest of the 4 shipping companies of Vafias Group, Imperial Petroleum reported its financial results for the nine months of 2022.
The company took delivery of its second dry bulk handysize carrier the “Eco Angelbay” and reported the Revenues of $42.6 million - up $ 31.3 million or 277% up from Q2 22’.
The Net income is $15.5 million - up $15.4 million or 15,400% from Q2 22’ and equivalent to approximately 23% of our current market capitalization.
The EBITDA1 of $18.7 million in Q3 22’ is up $15.7 million or 523% from Q2 22’ and the cash and time deposits of $92.4 million as of September 30, 2022  is 1.3 times higher than the current market cap.
CEO Harry Vafias commented: “This quarter’s unprecedented profitability growth is solid proof that our company’s strategy is paying off. With the capital recently raised we have managed to grow our fleet, maximize our profitability, substantially increase our cash flow and create value to our investors. As a result of having acquired six vessels in a course of ten months, we generated net income of $15.5 million in a single quarter which is 15,400% higher than our profit in Q2 22’ and is equivalent to 23% of our current market capitalization; We incurred moderate debt during the quarter, maintaining a healthy capital structure with $42.4 million of debt while preserving a free cash balance available for further fleet expansion of about $92 million. Given the strong market fundamentals and the promising charter rate environment and by taking advantage of our efficient management of our expanded fleet, we believe that we will achieve strong results and generate significant cash flow going forward. However, the valuation of our shares of common stock does not reflect our strong financial performance and capital available to fund our growth prospects”.
Image 1: dry bulk handysize carrier “Eco Angelbay”, 33.000dwt, built 2009

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