Recep Düzgit and Şadan Kaptanoğlu announce candidacies for Chairman in the upcoming Greek Chamber of Shipping elections this October.
In the elections of the Chamber of Shipping to be held in October, Recep Düzgit and Şadan Kaptanoğlu have announced their candidacies for the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors.
In his farewell speech, Tamer Kıran addressed future generations with the statement, 'Positions come and go. What matters are the values left to institutions.' He expressed, 'I want to clearly state my opinion regarding the name that will take on the management responsibility of our chamber during this period. I wholeheartedly believe that my valuable friend and companion, Recep Düzgit, who has served as vice chairman in our management for two terms, possesses the knowledge, experience, and accumulation to take our chamber further; and that he will continue the management understanding, culture of consultation, and spirit of unity that we have created together with the same determination. This belief is the result of my faith in institutional continuity and my trust in his knowledge and experience,' thereby indicating his successor for the Chairmanship of the Board of Directors.
This statement should not be seen as a bias in a universal sense. However, it indicates a traditional understanding of consensus, as is the case in the Greek maritime trade world.
A comparison regarding the customs of the Greek Chamber of Shipping
In the elections for the presidency of the Greek Chamber of Shipping (Hellenic Chamber of Shipping - NEE), the chamber's customs and internal workings dictate that a single candidate is selected through consensus. In the chamber's management structure, the presidential race is determined not by a multi-candidate fierce political struggle at the general assembly, but rather through a voting process among the members of the Board of Directors and the nomination of a single name agreed upon. The presidency of the Greek Chamber of Shipping-NEE is not viewed as a position of contention, and continuing with a single candidate preferred through prior consensus is considered an honorable tradition. Therefore, there are no other names for candidacy outside of this consensus.
The term of office for the members of the Board of Directors within the Greek Chamber of Shipping (Hellenic Chamber of Shipping - NEE) is 4 years. The Chairmanship of the Board is limited to 2 terms.
Looking briefly at its history; the Greek Chamber of Shipping-NEE held its first general assembly on March 18, 1937, with the participation of 83 members. The assembly approved the union's charter and elected George Embiricos as President, and Emmanuel Michalinos and Panagis Yannoulatos as Vice Presidents.
At that time, the Greek commercial fleet consisted of a total of 599 steamships with a gross tonnage of 1.8 million and 714 sailing ships with a gross tonnage of 55.5 thousand. The establishment of the chamber coincided with the establishment of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and the appointment of Piraeus lawyer Defkalion Rediadis as the first Minister of Maritime Affairs.
I have also examined the Chairmen of the NEE Board of Directors and their terms of office. The chairmen and their terms are as follows:
Georgios E. Embiricos (1937 – 1939)
(He is the founding president elected at the chamber's first general assembly)
Nikolaos G. Livanos (1939 – 1949) (2 terms)
Nikolaos Lykiardopoulos (1949 – 1953) (1 term)
Kiriakos Pezatikos (1953 – 1963) (2 terms)
Stavros Livanos (1963 – 1964) (1 year)
Georgios Voyatzis (1964 – 1974) (2 terms)
Aristomenis Karageorgis (1974 – 1980) (6 years)
Epameinondas Gourdomichalis (1980 – 1988) (2 terms)
Vasileios Konstantakopoulos (1988 – 1996) (2 terms)
Ioannis C. Lyras (1996 – 2000) (1 term)
Gerasimos Strintzis (2000 – 2004) (1 term)
Georgios A. Gratsos (2004 – 2016) (2 years)
Dr. George D. Pateras (2016 – 2025) (2 terms)
(He resigned from his position in January 2025 for personal reasons)
George Sp. Alexandratos (2025 – He was first elected on January 16, 2025, and continues his duties by gaining renewed confidence in the elections of February 2026.)
Source: SeaNews Türkiye
