John Angelicoussis did not speak often but when he did, his words stuck.
“I like big vessels,” he said in one of his rare public appearances — the bigger their size, the fewer competitors there would be to spoil his market.
Another pithy aphorism concerned stock listings. If a shipping company did not need them, it should not use them.
Angelicoussis knew a thing or two about public markets. He was fresh out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1970s when his father Anthony, the founder of the Angelicoussis shipping empire, first considered floating the family business in New York.
They were years ahead of any other Greek shipping company when Anangel American Shipholdings went public in 1987.
The first Greek to enter public markets, Angelicoussis was also the first to drop them in 2001, long after his father's death.
“Public markets didn’t make sense any more,” said John Platsidakis, a trusted lieutenant who worked at the Angelicoussis Shipping Group for more than 40 years.
Angelicoussis preferred to spend his time running his firm rather than having to account for himself to 20-year-old analysts.
Total trust
Enjoying bankers’ total trust, he did not need outsiders to fund his landmark expansion into gas carriers — likely his biggest legacy.
When Qatar started looking for its first generation of large LNG carriers around the millennium, Angelicoussis decided to participate, becoming the first Greek owner to enter the business.
“He was instrumental in shaping the LNG shipping market to what it is today,” said Abdullah Al-Sulaiti, chief executive of Qatar-listed shipowner Nakilat.
Sensing the momentum for gas carriers was characteristic of Angelicoussis’ skill to read markets early.
“John could also see where shipping was heading and that’s something very few people can,” said Anastasios Papagiannopoulos, a fellow Greek owner and former Bimco head who knew Angelicoussis since the 1970s.
Alongside his sister, Anna, with whom he eventually split interests, Angelicoussis expanded his father’s dry bulk empire into oil and gas carriers.
Industrial shipping with large, cutting-edge newbuildings constructed at top yards was key to this strategy.
South Korean shipbuilders benefited from an ordering spree that saw Angelicoussis contract more than 110 ships at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering alone, often providing a lifeline to the company.
“He had his own courage. When he made up his mind he would just go for it and move very fast,” said one South Korean shipbuilder who knew him for many years.
In exchange, Angelicoussis would get better deals — and more. He developed a particular fondness for local dishes including Gochujang — a hot pepper sauce and Korean-style dried anchovies. The latter were later hand-delivered to him in Greece.
Careful moves
His bold moves were never reckless.
“Angelicoussis didn’t gamble much on the spot market,” one shipowner said. “He chartered for long periods, especially in LNG, so he was never burned by volatile spot markets.”
Long-time charters with energy giants, such as Chevron and ExxonMobil, would provide secure revenue streams and access to insight that would spur him to enter LNG.
Colm Nolan, who was Angelicoussis' chartering manager in London for more than 20 years, said: "He had the ability to know what was going on down to the last detail, but let people do their job. It was a great skill."
The success spawned a fleet that evoked rivals’ respect and often begrudging admiration.
“He built a behemoth that the community could only aspire to be, and respect,” one competitor said.
“I knew that I could rely on his word, he was a straight shooter,” said John Hadjipateras, president of Dorian LPG.
“He had a profound respect for the rules of the game and was a trusted friend,” said George Procopiou, another major Greek shipowner of John Angelicoussis’ generation.
Dedication to shipping
John Fredriksen, another shipping colossus who often crossed swords with Angelicoussis, expressed sadness at his death and said he was a skilful operator.
Colleagues and rivals praise his dedication and long working hours. He had just a handful of close friends and was so consumed by his work that he rarely went out much.
“He had barely a social life,” one fellow shipowner said.
“John had total dedication to shipping. It was his life. He was among the first in the office each morning, lunch was working, and one of the last to leave,” said Nolan.
“He was a very generous man and not a show-off,” said Papagiannopoulos.
Angelicoussis died after a cardiac arrest in his home in Athens. He lay unconscious for three weeks in hospital. He was buried next to his father, who died at 71, in the family grave in Athens.
