www.TheSeaNation.gr

On Friday, May 10th, at the Faros Hall of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, the Propeller Club, Port of Piraeus, held its annual Members’ Day event, in the presence of the United States Ambassador to Greece and Honorary President of the Club, George Tsunis, the Chief of the Naval General Staff, Vice-Admiral Dimitrios Kataras, the Commander in Chief of Hellenic Fleet, Vice-Admiral Polychronis Koulouris, the Chief of the Hellenic Coast Guard, Vice-Admiral, Georgios Alexandrakis, the 2nd Deputy Commander of the Hellenic Coast Guard, Vice-Admiral Tryfon Kontizas, as well as a number of distinguished guests.

A special welcome ceremony was conducted before the event, where the President and members of the Board of Governors welcomed the 200 new members by presenting them with their Propeller Club certificate and pin.

The evening opened with a warm welcome from the General Secretary of the Propeller Club, Christos Timagenis.

This was followed by the welcome address of the President, Costis Frangoulis, who commented: “Tonight is a special night as we welcome 200 new members to Propeller Club of Piraeus, but also to the wider family of the International Propeller Club, the largest networking organization in global shipping, with 80 Clubs and over 6,000 active Members."
While he continued: "We are delighted to welcome you and hope that you take pride in joining this historic organization today, as it approaches its 90th anniversary of serving and contributing to the Greek society and shipping industry.”

The evening continued with the greeting of Ambassador George Tsunis.
During his remarks, U.S. Ambassador to Greece and Honorary President of the International Propeller Club, Port of Piraeus, said: "For a century, the Propeller Club has supported our multifaceted maritime relationships, building bridges between the United States and the global shipping community... With the largest, newest, and most modern fleet in shipping and such a dynamic shipping community, we are excited about the future of the shipping industry in Greece."

In his capacity as a longstanding and esteemed Lifetime Member, Stamatis Tsantanis, Chairman and CEO of NASDAQ listed companies Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp and United Maritime Corporation, extended a warm welcome to the new members and stated the following: “We wish to emphasize our pride in being members of the International Propeller Club, Port of Piraeus, as Seanergy and United Maritime. We are dedicated supporters of this institution, which seeks to enhance Greek-American maritime cooperation while maintaining its longstanding philanthropic reputation.”

The evening's keynote speaker was Sveinung Støle, Deputy CEO of the Angelicoussis Group, who was introduced by the Club's General Secretary, Christos Timagenis.

Mr. Støle addressed the topic: “Navigating Through Challenging Times Towards a Sustainable Future”, stating: “We all need to find solutions to decarbonize our industry. Decarbonization is a transition, not a switch, it doesn’t happen overnight. The shipping industry needs to control the process and narrative of the energy transition, in cooperation with other parties, such as regulators, the government, and organizations such as the Union of Greek Shipowners and INTERTANKO. We need to manage our existing fleets in the safest and most efficient way until the end of each vessel's trading life. We believe that all new vessels must be dual-fuel, which can lead to a 40% reduction in CO2 emissions today. We believe LNG is the best solution; it is proven, safe, competitively priced, and available today. It will be supplemented with bio-LNG and later synthetic LNG, meaning that the LNG solution will take these vessels to net-zero emissions. Thus, dual-fuel vessels can last until 2050. For other non-carbon fuels, such as ammonia, hydrogen and methanol, these must be green meaning made from renewable energy, and there will be technological developments that will ensure their safe use, but these are not there today”.

Following his speech, a very interesting fireside chat was held between the President of the Club, Costis Frangoulis, and Sveinung Støle.

Costis Frangoulis then formally inducted him into the Propeller family, as an Honorary Member by pinning him with the Club pin, and presenting him with the Certificate of Honorary Membership.

A plaque of recognition was also awarded to the outgoing Economic Counselor of the US Embassy, Erik Holmgren, in appreciation of his contribution during his stay in Athens.