Athina Martinou passed away on Friday bringing heavy mourning to family and acquaintances because her departure means the end of an era.
Athina Martinou has created her own legend, and certainly the longest, as a leading woman in shipping – Greek and global.
She created a shipping giant. At the same time, she was a woman with great contribution to society, she always kept a very low profile, while from the “bowels” of the shipping company Thenamaris, with the support of the family, many executives managed to enter the shipownership.
Like the sea, Athina Martinou was never still. Bold and ambitious, hard-working and persistent, discreet and understated, she was the “Nounou” of the Greek shipping sector.
Every action, every move in Athina Martinou’s lifetime had been inspired by the sea. She pursued her dream with hard work, ceaseless energy and passion, and earned the respect and recognition of the shipping world.
In 1964, Athina Martinou entered shipping. With the stubbornness that her origin from Kefalonia gave her, Nounou, born in Glyfada, managed to build her life as she dreamed.
She founded the shipping empire Thenamaris, and handed the reins to her children, never provoked with displays of wealth and power and dedicated a large part of her life to giving to the fellow human beings and the country. With her husband she had four children: Thanasis, Andreas, Dinos and Eleni.
“In this effort, I was not alone. My husband was by my side from the first moment, who loved shipping and of course my oldest son Thanasis, who, from the age of fourteen was making statistics and calculating the crew and supplies a ship would need,” she said.
In an earlier interview to Aeinaftes, Athina Martinou spoke about how she fell in love with the sea: “I am from Kefalonia, but a big role in my love for the sea played the fact that I was born in Glyfada, and I saw the ships passing by and I told my friends ‘we will make ships too’ and we did it. We were obsessed with it and we did it and the whole family made ships.”
“Thanasis, from the first moment was an active part of this effort. I was not the driving force, but I was the one who could make the hard things easy. When you want something, you can do it. I never behaved as a manager. I loved Thenamaris, not the management role. What I wanted was for my ships to multiply, and that’s what happened,” Athina Martinou said.
The Athina I Martinou Foundation outlines the personality of the great woman. “It was founded in 2021, guided by the vision of Athina I. Martinou and with a view of continuing her philanthropic work for the benefit of the Greek society. The Foundation’s operation is imbued by her values – equality, respect, humility, meritocracy – that stand as the cornerstone in realizing its mission and fulfilling its vision.”
Athina I. Martinou Foundation was founded in 2021, guided by the vision of Athina Martinou and with a view of continuing her philanthropic work for the benefit of the Greek society.
The Foundation awards grants in the areas of social welfare, health, education, culture and the environment. In addition to its nationwide reach and cross-sectoral spectrum, it focuses its grantmaking on issues related to the sea. The Foundation supports nonprofit organizations and does not direct grants to individuals, except in the case of scholarships. The Scholarship Program, for disciplines related to the sea, has commenced within 2023. The Foundation also provides emergency grants in crisis situations.
With her husband, and her children, Athina Martinou had created a legendary name in the seas of the world.
Thenamaris
Thenamaris was established in 1972 in Piraeus, Greece, and started with a fleet of eight dry cargo vessels under management. By 1978 Thenamaris was managing 50 vessels with a combined deadweight of more than 900,000 tons. These were bulk carriers, ore/oil carriers, OBO log/bulk carriers, car carriers, tween deckers, heavy lifters, geared ore carriers and a chemical tanker.
Today, Thenamaris is internationally recognized for managing a large and diverse fleet of tankers including Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC), Suezmax, Aframax and MR2 tankers carrying a full range of wet cargoes in every major commercial area of the world.
Thenamaris is currently overseeing the construction of ten tanker newbuildings.
The eight LR2 newbuildings being managed have a total capacity of over nine hundred thousand tons deadweight. They are equipped with scrubbers and various energy-saving technologies for optimum performance. The vessels will be delivered in 2025.
The two MR2 newbuildings being managed have a total capacity of one hundred thousand tons deadweight. They are equipped with scrubbers, Framo cargo pumps, and various energy-saving technologies for optimum performance. The vessels will be delivered in 2025.
To carry out the construction of these new tankers, the company is collaborating with globally recognized shipyards Hyundai Vietnam Shipbuilding in Vietnam, Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in China, and Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in China.
