The Other Greeks

To most people, the Golden Greeks are Aristotle Onassis and Stavros Niarchos, the argonauts who have built fortunes of $500 million each and cut a swath in international society. The two old rivals still struggle to outdo each other in size of fleet and fortune, and are now engaged in a fierce competition to win a Greek government contract to build a huge shipping and industrial complex. Though they get most of the publicity, they are only the two most conspicuous men in a large group of Greek shipping magnates, most of whom are known in nautical circles as the "other Greeks." While the Golden Greeks ardently seek publicity, the other Greeks shun it. Collectively, they have a far greater impact on world business than Onassis or Niarchos, and individually some have become about as wealthy --or even more so.

In all, Greek shipowners today possess the world's largest merchant fleet --3,065 ships totaling almost 25 million tons. As a group, they are the biggest spenders in the world's shipyards. More than 200 vessels, including 43 supertankers, are on order or being built for Greek owners. The Greeks set up shop wherever they can do business, in London, Manhattan, Lausanne or Beirut. They fly the most convenient flag --Liberian, Panamanian, Cypriot--but they remain Greek wherever they go. Their enterprise has been a major force in lifting the postwar economies of shipbuilding nations. In British shipyards alone, the Greeks now account for 25% of all orders.

The 40 Families. The other Greeks ' are members of about 40 old maritime families that intermarry and expand their power in the fashion of Europe's royal dynasties. Almost all of them come from the rocky Greek islands. The neighboring islands of Chios and Inoussai, for example, have produced such shipping families as Lemos, Kulukundis, Pateras, Carras, Papalios--who collectively own more than one-third of Greek shipping. Nothing grows on these rough islands, and the only way to make a living is to go to sea. Traditionally, boys begin as sailors and send their wages back to the island to feed the family. If enough sons go to sea, the family may eventually save enough money to buy an old boat and members of the clan man the vessel. If the ship makes money, the family buys another, then another. Most Greek shipowners started out this way and now send their young sons to sea between terms at schools in Europe and the U.S.

Part of the reason for the Greeks' success is that they have been willing to begin by using old, rickety ships. The Greeks were also helped by the U.S. Government, which, aiming to revive Greece's merchant marine after World War II, sold them 100 Liberty ships on easy credit terms. Many of the ships were delivered just before the Korean War sent freight rates soaring. Later, in the wake of the 1956 Suez crisis, the Greeks were among the first to order supertankers, which cut costs on the long trip around the Cape. The investment has paid handsomely, and the shipowners have also benefited from the general expansion in world trade.

Among the leading fleet owners:

> Costas Lemos, 60, is by far the wealthiest of all Greek shipowners. His net worth: about $750 million. At the end of World War II, he owned a shipping line, but no ships at all. The war had destroyed 70% of the Greek merchant fleet, including the three Lemos vessels. To replace them, Lemos bought three U.S. Liberty ships at cut-rate prices. Like many other Greeks, he has devised quite a few new methods and designs, including a combination liquid-dry cargo ship that can haul a load of oil on an outbound voyage and return with a cargo of coal. Partly because of his inventiveness, he has accumulated a fleet of 60 ships totaling 4,500,000 tons; another 2,000,000 tons are on order.

> John C. Carras, 60, inherited a small line that his grandfather started with a rowboat. Carras has built it into a 1,000,000-ton fleet, partly because he was early to appreciate the abilities of the Japanese to build ships at low cost. Of the 19 ships that he now has on order, 17 are being built in Japan. -- Nikolas Papalios, 56, went into business after World War II with a 210-ton fishing boat, built in 1895, that he converted into a freighter. By 1957, he owned five small ships and was able to buy a U.S. Liberty. He had the idea of paying bonuses to his crew for fast loading and quick turnarounds. "I knew how to get the most out of a ship," he says. By the end of this year, the Papalios fleet will number 39 vessels.

> Menis Karageorgis, 36, worked as a ship's master on one of his father's two freighters before he took over in 1959. "I bought my first ship with my father's good name as the only guarantee, but that was enough," he says. With that kind of credit, plus hard work and luck, he has built up a fleet of 600,000 tons. He takes pride in knowing by name all the crewmen on his 20 ships.

> Minos Colocotronis, 50, has accumulated 30 ships totaling 1,000,000 tons in just about four years. Instead of placing orders with shipyards and waiting two or three years for delivery, he buys secondhand ships. This protects him against drops in freight rates between ordering and the time of delivery.

Sumptuous Style. Shipping last year brought Greece $243 million in foreign currency, or slightly more than the nation earned from its second-biggest industry, tourism. Some shippers estimate that earnings would rise to $500 million yearly if the military government of George Papadopoulos took steps to encourage more owners to register their ships under the Greek flag. The dictatorship has won the shipowners' enthusiastic support by moving in that direction. A recent decree exempts new Greek-flag ships from taxes until they are ten years old. Shipowners even have priority on international telephone calls; they get through from Athens to London in a few minutes, while ordinary Greeks often have to wait for hours.

Personally, most Greek shipping men scorn the sybaritic life, preferring to live in.a quietly sumptuous style. They shuttle among offices and residences in several countries, unnoticed except by their captains (whom they instruct to call them at any hour of the night if a problem arises). Lemos, for example, maintains his principal office in London, owns a penthouse in Athens and a home in Rye, N.Y., and has permanent suites at Claridge's in London and the Lausanne Palace. Most of the shipowners return to their home islands for summer vacations. When all the clans gather on Inoussai (pop. 1,500), the net worth of the people jumps to about $4 billion. The other Greeks are perfectly happy to let "Ari" Onassis and Stavros Niarchos capture the headlines. As far as they are concerned, what really counts is not what the outside world thinks of them but how they are graded by the village priest back home.

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