BIMCO looks to open Athens office

BIMCO is the world’s largest international shipping association, with around 1,900 members, and Greek owners control more tonnage than any other group of BIMCO members.

Now BIMCO plans to open an office in Athens so as to have a stronger and closer dialogue with its Greek members — and recruit more of them.

“Opening an office in Athens is an important step to make BIMCO even more member-focused,” says BIMCO President, Anastasios Papagiannopoulos, Principal of bulker operator Common Progress Co Na S.A.

“There is a lot of regulation coming and being a BIMCO member will help Greek shipowners get the advice and information they need to make decisions about their business,” Papagiannopoulos says.

The office will only be staffed with one person – like BIMCO’s office in Singapore – and the employee will report to BIMCO’s Head of Membership and Business Development, Erik Jensby.

BIMCO is in the process of hiring the right person for the office.

“We want to be more visible in Athens. The job is to go and meet with members and potential members several times every day, to make sure they understand what we can do for them, and to gather feedback from our members,” says Jensby.

The secretariat in Copenhagen will continue to be responsible for the day to day work on shipping policy and regulation.

BIMCO has not yet found a physical location for the office. The intention is to rent a space with another company, which is the solution BIMCO has used with its other local offices in Shanghai and Singapore.

Currently, BIMCO has 152 Greek shipowners as members.