Safe Bulkers CEO: Honorary Member of International Propeller Club of US

Polys Hajioannou, CEO of New York Stock Exchange listed Safe Bulkers Inc., has been certified as an honorary member of the International Propeller Club of United States, Port of Piraeus.

He received his certification at an official ceremony that was held on 19 April in Athens, which was attended among other by the Ambassador of the United States of America to Greece, George James Tsunis, and Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus to Greece, Kyriacos Kenevezos.

Hajioannou’s honorary plaque and certificate were delivered by the US Ambassador and the President of the International Propeller Club of the United States, Costis Frangoulis.

Addressing the event, Ambassador Tsunis stood particularly at Greece’s strategic positioning in the broader Eastern Mediterranean region, the Balkans, Middle East and North Africa, as well as how reliable an ally Greece is to the USA in this region. He also referred to the investments undertaken by companies of American interests for the reactivation of the Syros and Elefsina shipyards.

Hajioannou in turn gave a speech about the resilience of listed shipping companies in the ever changing and full of challenges global environment. He referred to the history of the Hajioannou family, which started off in Cyprus and returned to the island in 2015, with the founding of the Cypriot shipping company Safe Bulkers Management Ltd.

The family’s story saw them make constant adjustments to new circumstances, with crises, high charter markets, new legislation, growth efforts through second-hand ships in the 1990s, followed by newbuildings in South Korea and Japan that put the company in an advantageous position during the upward trend of charter markets with China's entry into International Trade Organisation after 2002. Then of course came the milestone of Safe Bulkers’ listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2008, when the traditional selling of ships at the highs of the market and buying them at the lows no longer worked.

The upside of the NYSE listing was that it expanded financing possibilities through capital raising and creating new modernised corporate structures suitable to meet the increased requirements of the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). On the flip side though, he said, “you are often obliged to follow recommendations for orders on new ships, with the result that in the crisis of 2015-2016, you could not expand at the right time using your funds to ensure the creditworthiness of the company.” But then, he added, “Credibility is an investment in itself, in terms of the banks as well as the shareholders who are trusting you with their money”.

Hajioannou mentioned the role of Greek-owned shipping in the global economy and in the economy of Greece and Cyprus where it maintains its ship management offices, stressing the importance of the Cypriot flag not as a competitive flag to the Greek one, but in terms of other registries worldwide.

He welcomed the recent efforts by Greece and Turkey to resolve their disputes, adding that it went without saying that the Greek government’s support to the Turkish candidacy for the presidency of the International Maritime Organisation should be accompanied with the lifting of the Turkish embargo on Cyprus-flagged ships.

It is hoped that Hajioannou’s certification as an Honorary Member of the International Propeller Club of United States of America, Piraeus Port, will reinforce efforts to create a new Propeller Club in Limassol, which is an NGO with presence in 72 ports worldwide. Its primary objective is to provide a platform for exchange of views and best practices that promote social, cultural and shipping relations, mainly with the USA.