Greece's Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS) on Thursday elected Melina Travlos, Chairwoman of Neptune Lines Shipping & Managing Enterprises, as its new president.
Neptune Lines was founded by her father Nikos Travlos in 1975, and specializes in the transport of vehicles. Her 18-ship fleet transports over 1 million cars per year to 20 countries and 30 Mediterranean ports.
The news comes just two months after Gaby Bornheim was elected to the position of president of the German Shipowners’ Association (VDR) in the association’s 114-year history.
Travlos is the first woman to be elected president of the Union of Greek Shipowners since UGS was founded in 1916, and will serve a three-year term. She will succeed outgoing president Theodore Veniamis, who has been in charge for 13 years.
As newly elected President made Travlos made the following statement:
“I would like to express my gratitude for the honor of being unanimously elected President of the Union of Greek Shipowners. Everyone’s trust fills me with pride, but above all modesty, respect and liability for my mission.
"I want to thank, especially, our outgoing President, Theodoros Veniamis for his multiannual, consistent, multi-level and internationally acknowledged contribution to Greek shipping and to its social footprint, through SYN-ENOSIS.
"We have many great challenges ahead of us. We keep moving forward united and focused on our goal. A national goal, a global goal: to defend the achievements of Greek shipping.”'
In total, 30 board members were elected from 42 candidates for a three-year term.
The list of the new UGS Board of Directors for a three-year period is as follows:
President: Travlos N. Melina
Vice Presidents: Chandris D. Michael, Lemos N. Antonios-Thomas
Secretaries: Fafalios J. Dimitrios, Veniamis Th. Nikolaos
Treasurer: Xylas A. John
Deputy Treasurer: Carrousis I. Constantinos
Members of the Board:
Angelicoussis I. Maria, Angelopoulos C. George, Constantacopoulos V. Constantinos, Coumantaros G. John, Coustas D. John (Dr.), Dragnis P. John, Economou Ch. George, Efstathiou A. Filippos, Fragkista A. Maria, Kanellakis Ch. Frangiskos, Karageorgiou K. George, Lecanides D. Stephanos, Livanos S. George, Lyras C. John, Marinakis M. Evangelos, Martinos C. Nikolaos, Nomikos A. Markos, Paliou S. Semiramis, Papagiannopoulos A. Vasileios, Pappas P. Alexandros, Procopiou G. Johanna, Saracakis D. Dimitri Frank, Youroukos D. Georgios.
Neptune Lines History
In 1975, Nicolas Travlos founded Neptune Shipping Agencies S.A., a cargo and ship handling services company. Soon after, the company started representing tramp and tanker owners.
By 1980, the Company's activities expanded to include vessel chartering in the Mediterranean Sea.
In the early '80s Neptune Lines Shipping and Managing Enterprises S.A. was established, owning and operating general cargo and container vessels. By 1986, the Company was operating its first RO/RO vessel and soon after its first Pure Car Carrier (PCC).
By the early '90s, Neptune Lines was enjoying the recognition of major car manufacturers and had increased its fleet to support growing demand.
During the period from late 2000 until 2006, the Company’s fleetexpanded further through the ownership of newbuilding vessels.
In 2009-2010, four new generation sister vessels were added (Neptune Odyssey, Neptune Iliad, Neptune Kefalonia and Neptune Ithaki) with 3,200 car capacity each.
In 2014, two eco-design newbuildings, Neptune Galene and Neptune Thalassa, built in Hyundai Mipo Dockyard with latest propulsion and environmental technologies, were added to the fleet.
In 2015, two new acquisitions, Neptune Hellas and Neptune Horizon, of approx. 3,800 car units each, bring the owned fleet to 15 vessels.