Global shipbroking company Simpson Spence Young (SSY) is opening a new office in Athens, Greece, that will mainly focus on bulk carriers.
The new SSY Hellas office will be based in Glyfada and will be managed by SSY dry cargo broker Nicholas Vamvakaris.
The Athens team will comprise brokers focused on the capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize bulker markets. Vamvakaris specialises in panamaxes.
SSY said it plans to expand the remit of this office "in the near future" to include other departments.
Mark Richardson, chairman of SSY, said: "It has long been part of our plans to have local representation in one of the most significant shipping locations in the world, and we look forward to hopefully seeing more of our clients in 2022."
Richardson told TradeWinds in September that his firm is targeting expansion worldwide and is looking to acquire other shipbroking businesses.
Stanko Jekov, SSY's global head of dry cargo, said opening the new Athens office was "exciting".
"As we continue to grow, we are always looking for new opportunities to develop and expand into new territories and markets," he said.
"Being in Athens not only provides us with the ability to better support our clients there, but also enables us to be part of a community that has been at the core of shipping throughout history."
SSY Hellas Ltd, based in the Marshall Islands, applied for registration in Greece on 29 September last year and obtained a formal licence in November, according to Greek business registry records.
SSY has a global network of offices in London, Singapore, Houston, Shanghai, Stamford (US), Sydney, Geneva, Bergen, Hong Kong, New York, Mumbai, Madrid, Oslo, Sao Paulo, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Vancouver, Dubai, Varna and Zug.
Harry Papachristou contributed to this story.
