Fotios Belexis, Technical Director, Star Bulk Carriers Corp

 
Fotios Belexis is Technical Director of Star Bulk Carriers Corp., the largest dry bulk shipping company listed today on the Nasdaq.

Mr Belexis has  25 years of working experience in diverse technical managerial roles in major shipping companies operating diversified fleets such as LNG/LPG/Tankers/ Bulk Carriers and Container Vessels.

Mr Belexis holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and an M.Sc. in Maritime Engineering from the University of Southampton.

 Stamatis Bourboulis, General Manager, Euronav Ship Management (Hellas) Ltd

Stamatis Bourboulis is the General Manager of Euronav Ship Management (Hellas) Ltd since 2005. He is a member of Euronav Management Board and ESG & Climate Change Committee.

He has graduated from the National Technical University of Athens as a Naval Architect and Marine Engineer and has worked in shipping companies and in chemical, ship building and ship repair industry in Greece. 

He is a member of Intertanko Safety and Technical Committee (ISTEC), LR and DNVGL Greek National Committees and RINA Hellenic Technical Committee.

Cesare d’Api, Deputy Technical Director, d’Amico group

Born in 1973, Cesare d’Api is the Deputy Technical Director of d’Amico group.

Prior to that, he spent 12 years Technical Manager at d’amico societa di navigazione responsible for the Tanker fleet division.

From 2000 to 2002 he was senior consultant at ICM consulting  where  he led several ship management optimization projects.

Along with 20 years of experience in shipmanagement,  maintenance optimization, cost optimization, disaster recovery projects,  refit projects and innovation, Cesare d’Api holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the university of Naples and presently is member of the INTERCARGO Technical committee and CONFITARMA Technical Committee.

Dimitrios Fafalios, President / Director, Fafalios Shipping S.A.; Chairman, Intercargo

Dimitrios Fafalios serves as President/Director of Fafalios Shipping S.A. since 2008.

From 1984 to 2008, Mr Fafalios has held various positions in Fafalios Ltd London, including Technical manager, Technical Director with responsibilities for vessel Maintenance, Newbuildings, S&P, and Technical support for Chartering, Insurance, Post-Fixture and other departments. He has worked closely with many of the major classification societies and international shipping organisations for rule development and implementation.

Mr Fafalios has been elected Chairman of Intercargo since January 2019 having been Chairman of its Technical Committee since 2009 and one of the first members of the Technical Committee since 1999.

Mr Fafalios holds senior positions on ABS, DNV-GL, HCS, ICS, INTERCARGO, LR, NK and UGS committees. Mr Fafalios has attended IMO on behalf of the Hellenic Republic.

Mr Fafalios received his B.S.c in Naval Architecture and Ship Building Newcastle upon Tyne University in 1980 and M.S.c in Ocean Systems Management from MIT in 1982.

Haris Giantzikis,Technical Manager, Arcadia Shipmanagement Co Ltd

Charalampos (Haris) Giantzikis holds a High National Diploma (HND) in naval architecture, a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in mechanical engineering from City University of New York.

He launched his career in 1979 as assistant superintendent engineer at A. Halcoussis.He worked as superintendent engineer at Tsakos Shipping, Piraeus (1987-1991) and as senior superintendent engineer at Seven Seas Maritime in London (1991-2001). He was fleet manager at Marmaras  Navigation (2001-2002) and technical manager at Tsakos Shipping (2002-2005).From 2005 to date he holds the position of technical manager at Arcadia Shipmanagement.

He is member of ABS European Technical Committee, Bureau Veritas Hellenic Marine Technical Committee, DNV GL Greek Technical Committee, Lloyd’s Register Hellenic Technical Committee, Class NK Greek Technical Committee and is a member of the MARTECMA council.

Stavros Hatzigrigoris, Chairman, MARTECMA

Stavros Hatzigrigoris is a Marine Consultant. He held the position of Managing Director of Maran Tankers Management between 1992 and 2014 and in addition he was the Managing Director of Maran Gas Maritime between 2003 and 2020. 

Stavros joined Anangel Shipping Enterprises S.A. in 1981 as a Fleet Manager a position which he held until his appointment to Managing Director of Maran Tankers Management. 

Stavros holds a B.Sc. in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering from University College London as well as an M.Sc. in Marine Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. He has studied Management of Ship Operations in the University of Strathclyde. 

He is a member of numerous national and international shipping bodies and committees. He is a fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineers and has been an International Vice President of SNAME between 2008 and 2010. He is the Chairman of the DNV GL Technical Committee in Greece and has been an active member of the ABS Technical Committee and the Greek technical committees of DNV, LRS, KR and CRS. He is also the Chairman of the Marine Technical Managers Association in Greece.

John Kokarakis, Technology & Business Development Director HBSA Zone,  Bureau Veritas

Dr Kokarakis a 1979 graduate of National Technical University of Athens, holds PhD (1986) and Masters degrees in Naval Architecture (1983) and Mechanical Engineering (1984) from the University of Michigan.

He worked for over ten years as a consultant undertaking technical problems worldwide. His specialization was in the area of technical investigation of marine accidents. In his capacity as a forensic engineer he participated in the technical investigation of the Exxon Valdez grounding, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the drillship Sea-Crest capsize, the Piper Alpha fire and explosion, the Aleutian Enterprise foundering in Alaska as well as many other accidents of less notoriety.

The last twenty years he works in Greece, in the area of classification. He is today the Technical Director of Bureau Veritas in the Hellenic and Black Sea & Zone, responsible for the smooth technical operation in the Zone as well as in the harmonic cooperation with the BV offices worldwide to the benefit of the BV clients.

He is a member of SNAME since 1976 and a Fellow of the Society. He served in various capacities, being currently the Chairman of the Greek Section since 2014.

Panos Kourkountis, Technical Director, Sea Traders SA

Panos Kourkountis is the Technical Director of Sea Traders SA. He studied Naval Architecture and Mechanical Engineering in the National Technical University of Athens. Since 1994 he worked as Superintendent, Site manager of new building projects, Technical Manager and Technical Director of Andriaki Shipping Co. Ltd. In January 2018 he joined Procopiou Group of companies as Technical Director of Sea Traders SA.

He is vice president of Marine Technical Managers Association (MARTECMA), and member of Hellenic Technical Chamber (TEE), ABS Europe Technical Committee, Lloyd’s Register Hellenic Technical Committee, DNV Greek Technical Committee, RINA Technical Committee, Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers SNAME, Naval Architects Association of Greece, Mechanical Engineers’ Association of Greece, Hellenic Institute of Marine Technology (ELINT).

Takis Koutris, Managing Director, Roxana Shipping SA; Kristen Marine SA

Maria Kyratsoudi, Business Development Manager, ABS

Maria Kyratsoudi joined ABS as a Business Development Manager with a focal point on energy efficiency and environmental matters.

Prior to joining ABS, Maria worked for another class society for eleven years as Global FOBAS Business Development Manager providing also technical advice on fuel quality and on-board fuel management. She represented this class society in various industry organizations meetings (Intertanko, Martecma etc) and other fora on fuel quality testing issues, alternative fuels, Sulphur 2020 matters.  She has also previously worked as a plan approval engineer. 

Maria Kyratsoudi holds an MSc in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens and an LLM from the City University of London.

Stelios Kyriacou, Chief Technical Officer, ERMA FIRST ESK Engineering Solutions SA

Dr Kyriacou is a senior maritime executive with a career spanning over 35 years. He has held senior leadership  positions maintaining focus on design, applied research, technology and product development.  He is the Chief Technical Officer of and Chairman of the Technical Committee, Ballast Water Manufacturers Association (BEMA).

He has been involved with Ballast Water since 2008 when he initiated the development of the Hamworthy Aquarius BWMS technologies and delivered two IMO certified BWMS, Aquarius® UV (2011) and Aquarius® EC (2012) with respective USCG AMS. Following the acquisition of Hamworthy by Wartsila in 2012 he led the R&D, design and certification of the Wartsila Aquarius® BWMS range and delivered market ready products with class certification for both safe and hazardous zones. Having joined De Nora in 2017 he led the BALPURE® BWMS business and achieved the USCG type approval in 2018 and IMO new G8 certification.

Dr Kyriacou is a member of IMO MEPC BWWG, IMarEST BWEG and has been an invited speaker and panelist on numerous ballast water events in Europe, USA and Asia. He is actively involved with National and European committees and industry associations and a contributor on maritime strategy, regulation and technology RD&I.

Miltos Messinezis, Sales Engineer, Oceanking SA

Miltos Messinezis studied Naval Architecture (BEng) and Marine Engineering (MSc), at the University of Southampton. In the past he has worked as Newbuildings Supervisor, mainly in Chinese shipyards and as a Superintendent Engineer, in various Greek shipping companies. 

Since May 2017 he is working as a Sales Engineer in Oceanking SA, involved with new technologies addressing environmental regulations.

Semiramis Paliou, Director, CEO, Diana Shipping Inc.; President, HELMEPA

Semiramis Paliou has served as Chief Executive Officer, Chairperson of the Executive Committee and a member of the Sustainability Committee since March 1, 2021. She has over 20 years of experience in shipping operations, technical management and crewing. 

Ms. Paliou began her career at Lloyd's Register of Shipping from 1996 to 1998 as a trainee ship surveyor. She was then employed by Diana Shipping Agencies S.A. From 2007 to 2010 she was employed as a Director and President of Alpha Sigma Shipping Corp. 

Mrs. Paliou obtained her BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, London and her MSc in Naval Architecture from University College, London. She completed courses in Finance for Senior Executives and in Authentic Leader Development at Harvard Business School. 

She is a member of the Greek committee of Det Norske Veritas - Germanischer Lloyd, a member of the Greek committee of Nippon Kaiji Kyokai and a member of the Greek committee of Bureau Veritas. 

Ms. Paliou was appointed President of HELMEPA in June 2020. Also, she is a member of the board of directors of the UK P&I Club since November 2020.

Alessandro Pescetto,  Marine Digital & Innovation Director, RINA Services SpA

 
Dr Alessandro Pescetto obtained the laurea degree in Electronic Engineer in 1996 and PhD in Electronic Engineering and Information Science in 2001.

From 2001 to 2013 he worked at CETENA, the research centre of FINCANTIERI Shipyard. He left CETENA as Head of Monitoring System Business Unit.

In 2013 he joined RINA Services in the Marine Business Solutions and developed a brand new an Performance Management tool installed on several ships that provides unique big data advantage to fleet management.

He has also attended "EU MRV Monitoring Subgroup" and "Air Emissions from Ships Group" in the European Sustainable Shipping Forum as IACS member.

He is currently Marine Digital and Innovation Director in RINA Services in charge for the development of marine digital services on RINA CUBE platform.

Bill Stamatopoulos, Business Development Manager, Bureau Veritas VeriFuel

Bill Stamatopoulos holds a Bachelor in Business Administration and an MBA with specialization in Total Quality Management from the Universityof Leicester.

He joined Det Norske Veritas (DNV) in 1991 and in 2010 Bill became the Regional Manager of DNV Petroleum Services for Europe, responsible for sales, lab operations, technical, surveys and consultancy.

Since 2004 he is appointed at the Hellenic Organization for Standardization, Committee 66 for Petroleum Products, by the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping.

Bill is a co-Author of 'MarineFuels', a specialized book in shipping, published in June 2008 and the main author of the new edition published in 2018.

During the last 15 years, Bill has given several presentations and training courses on all fuel- related issues and has also been involved in major bunker claims as a fuel expert.

From October1st, 2015, Bill joined Bureau Veritas as Business Development Manager for the newly established department of VeriFuel - Marine Fuel Services.

Jason Stefanatos, Business Development Manager - Senior Engineer Region South East Europe, Middle East & Africa, DNV Hellas SA

Jason Stefanatos is a Business Development Manager in DNV in Piraeus, Greece, where he has worked for the past 10 years in various positions, including R&D and Advisory. 
His main lines of work are around fleet performance optimization, energy efficiency and decarbonization, and digitalization, including cyber security. 
He has more than 15 scientific and industrial publications and has been involved in more than 80 commercial and research projects. 
The past three years has been actively working on environmental compliance (MRV, DCS, EEXI, CII) and decarbonization technology, including hybrid-electric propulsion and alternative fuels. He holds a degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the NTUA.

Emmanuel Vergetis, South Europe Senior Consultant, Marine & Offshore, Lloyd's Register

Emmanuel Vergetis is responsible for Lloyd’s Register’s Consulting Services for South Europe, including Data & Digital Solutions for Greece Cyprus and Israel. He is a graduate from National Technical University of Athens and holds a degree of Naval & Mechanical Engineer. His work as a PhD candidate and scientific researcher in European projects was dedicated in Oil Spill Confrontation. He has served in various positions in the Marine Industry and has also gained extensive experience in engineering, supervision and construction of shore based Electrical & Mechanical Installations. He has been awarded with US Patents and has gained extensive experience as EPC contractor of Renewable Energy projects in several European countries and India.

Kostas G. Vlachos, Chief Operating Officer, Latsco Marine Management Inc.

Mechanical / Electrical Engineer graduated from Technical University of Athens. 
He is currently the COO of Latsco Marine Management Inc. having full control and responsibilities on technical and operational matters of the vessels belonging to the corporate company (LPG, Oil tankers, LNG Carriers and Chemical Tankers).
Member of ABS, DNV-GL, LRS, National and technical committees. 
Ex chairman of Intertanko Hellenic Mediterranean Panel and a Council representative of Greece member.
Ex Member of the ExCom of Intertanko.Member of Intertanko Safety, Technical and Environmental Committee (ISTEC) and Chairman of Intertanko Gas Committee.
Member of General Purpose Committee of SIGTO For 15 years he worked as a representative member for the Hellenic Flag Administration in IMO and EU in Safety and Environmental committees.
Speaker in various fora related to Safety, Environmental and Technological developments, such as Intertanko, Mare Forum, Newsfront, Capital link, Lloyds Gas Forum, DNV-GL safety forum, Safety4Sea and others.