We take a look at what was said on TradeWinds webTV over the past week.

I want ships not shoes!
“This is a good year for opportunities across the board. We had a terrible collapse at the end of 2008, then 2009 was a very tough year but people managed to hold on. I think what people are seeing now is some light at the end of the tunnel and thinking maybe they should lighten up, maybe it’ll create some opportunities.”

Peter Georgiopoulos high on retail therapy after an $886m spree at Theodore Angelopoulos’ Metrostar ship shop.

(Peter G spots openings)

“It’s a good deal. I think they are great ships. It suits all his companies. I have to commend him for getting that deal together because quite frankly there aren’t deals like that around. It’s very difficult to find a multi-ship deal with high-quality ships...There’s a lot of buyers; there isn’t a lot of sellers.”

WeberSeas' Bobby Mitropoulos believes Peter G has made wise buys.

(Genmar deal ‘a one off’)

“I think there is plenty of cash here.”

Mitropoulos again. Wonder who he is thinking of?

(Greeks have plenty of cash)

“The Deepwater accident was Obama’s 9/11 and it is going to have a big impact on both shipping and offshore...It is going to make the depletion rate ...offshore US increase and less new production coming onstream will increase the dependence of the US on imported oil. So both short term and long term it’s very positive for the tanker market, but short/medium term it is negative for offshore drilling.”

RS Platou chief Peter Anker finds a silver lining to the black stuff washing up on the shores of Louisiana.

(BP spill is ‘Obama’s 9/11’)

Well hard working almost all the time!
“I think that in the shipping business you have to be on the dot, you have to be at the centre of the business. Work very, very hard and that’s the main thing. The Chinese are very hard working people. They have a big market in both the dry-bulk and tanker fields so they might stand a good chance.”

John Fredriksen on why a future Number One in the TradeWinds Power 100 list is more likely to be Chinese rather than Norwegian or even Greek.

(China has ‘next Fredriksen’)

“In Greece there is a significant pool of young, enthusiastic and very hard-working people, the likes of which you don’t find, certainly not in London to the same extent. So it is very easy for us to actually bring young people into the business. For old idiots like me it’s time to pass on and bring new people in so that’s what we are going to try and do in Greece and in London.”

So should we be betting on China or Greece? - Richard Fulford-Smith at his first Posidonia as part of the RS Platou broking team.

(Fulford big on Greeks)

“I am a bit worried because people are starting to reorder ships. We don’t need that. Please buy secondhand ships, or please buy resales. Don’t order more ships, we already have quite a big orderbook. But I think from 2011 onwards if we don’t overkill the market with too many ships, tankers, and particularly crude tankers, will do quite well.”

A plea from the heart and maybe the pocket too from Stealth Maritime’s Harry Vafias.

(Vafias: Don’t order tankers)

“I never expected the market [dry bulk] to be this good; I expected it to be much, much worse. But I think we have entered a time of high volatility in all businesses - shipping being on the forefront of volatility. So it is not a matter of time to buy or sell; it is a matter of being very careful, having very good counterparties in your business, banks on the one side, charters on the other side, and trying to take advantage of this volatility where money can be made on the up and on the down.”

G Bros’s George Gourdomichalis is almost shocked speechlessby the market.

(‘Time for dry-bulk caution’)

“We are in the same boat, shipbuilders and ship owners.”

Yasa Shipping’s Yalcin Sabanci is absolutely right as a lot of them were partying on his yacht, Sea Dream, moored at Piraeus for Posidonia.

(Yasa denies order axe talk)

“I think a lot of the cancellations we have heard of actually we have got a doubt of whether they were real orders in the first place...In all honesty I think the collapse saved us from ourselves."

Richard Sadler of Lloyd’s Register takes a sanguine view of the tough times the industry has gone through.

(Order changes ‘a wake-up call’)

He's got an anchor but the cash to invest?
“I’m in discussion with a number of anchor investors for the time being. We all know that the public equity markets have been very difficult for the past few weeks. But we’ll keep our options open and see what direction the market takes.”

Bjord Sjaastad knows you can't beat anchor investors for a new shipping venture.

(Sjaastad is back in the tanker fray)

“I know of at least four European banks looking to double their shipping books. There is funding in the banking sector.”

Maybe PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Emil Yiannopoulos needs to get together with Sjaastad

(Brighter lending picture but for how long)

“I think the transition will be much faster than people expect and I also think, as quite often happens when you go through a transition of this sort, that people will look back and say, how did we ever work with paper?”

Alexander Goulandris sounds suspiciously like Bolero which has been banging what appears to be the same drum for over a decade.

(Fronting an electronic revolution)

“I don’t think anyone would have expected us to work for seven years before we had one live transaction of ‘cargo docs. But if I knew then what I know today, I wouldn’t have been surprised because the level of complexity was something that anyone would underestimate.”

Goulandris again. Maybe that’s why Bolero failed to set the shipping world alight?

(A long wait but first 'e-cargo' is delivered)