MARE FORUM and RINA will host the 5th part of a series of digital Mare Forum round tables on "Funding Short Sea Ships today and zero-carbon ships of the future".
Our panel consisting of leading Capital Providers, Shipowners and Services Providers will guide you through a web of questions, answers and visions about trends in funding Short Sea Ships today and in the future.
Agenda
What are the owners' requirements?
How to convince the capital providers to fund short sea ships?
What to do until the zero-carbon-future-ships are ready
What is the role of governments and charterers?
Who will design the ship of the future?
What insights do we have into the commercial viability of future ship designs?
Who will take the investment risk on these technologies? What is the role of the capital provider and charterer?
Are there consolidations and acquisitions imperatives towards fleet sustainable modernization?
Johan Boomsma
Managing Director, Boomsma Shipping
Aleksandr Lisitskiy
Managing Director, Rix Shipmanagement
Geert Dokter
Managing Director, Conoship International BV
Pino Spadafora
Global Marine Commercial Senior Director at RINA
Ed van Aalst
Manager, ABN AMRO Bank
Marina Tzoutzouraki
Partner, Dagmar Navigation Limited and Co-Founder & CFO at eShipfinance
George Xiradakis
Founder and President of XRTC.
George Xiradakis was born in Athens and grew up in Volos. He graduated from the Nautical Marine Academy of Aspropyrgos-Athens and he holds a diploma in Commercial Operations from City of London Polytechnic and an MSc in Maritime Studies from University of Wales.
He served as Senior Manager in the French bank Credit Lyonnais both in Athens and Paris. In 1999 he founded XRTC which acts as a commercial representative of foreign banks and institutions in Greek Shipping Market.
Since 2009, XRTC has been working closely with the Chinese ship finance market aiming to
assist Chinese Banks to penetrate the Greek Shipping Market while since 2010 is the Preferred
Shipping Finance Consultant of China Development Bank. In 2010 XRTC awarded in Lloyd’s List Greek Shipping Awards as “Financier of the Year 2010” for the completion of the first bilateral loan between a Chinese bank and a Greek shipowner which was signed in the presence of both countries Premiers. Mr. Xiradakis is a Banker of reference on Chinese financing in the Greek business cycles due to his long lasting relationship with PRC.
Mr. Xiradakis is Vice President of China Hellenic Chamber (HCCI), General Secretary of the
Association of Banking and Financial Executives of Hellenic Shipping, Vice President
(International and Financial Relations) of the China-Greece Association, VP of the
International Propeller Club of the United States.
He is Emeritus President of International Propeller Club, Port of Piraeus, Emeritus Member of The Piraeus Chamber of Commerce & Industry, member of the Mediterranean Committee of China Classification Society, Piraeus Marine Club, Hellenic Maritime Museum and Hellas Liberty Floating Museum etc.
In May 2019 he participated in the European Parliament elections.
Gust Biesbroeck
Partner, Prow Capital
Gust is a seasoned International maritime- and ship finance professional.
He has had an international career in the field spanning over 3 decades in both commercial- and risk management roles, based in the Netherlands, Greece and Hongkong.
As from 2008, Gust served as Global Head and Managing Director Transportation Clients for ABN AMRO bank, one of the leading ship finance franchises in international banking.
Gust left banking in 2018 to focus on developing financing solutions and new business models
for investing in clean / alternative fuel propulsion, a.o. benefitting from his experience from
his involvement with the Sustainable Shipping Initiative, the Climate Bond Initiative, and
several other “green” projects and initiatives.
Gust is based in Rotterdam and holds a Master’s degree in Business and Economics from
Erasmus University in Rotterdam (1989), completed an executive MBA at CEDEP in
Fontainebleau, France (2007) and graduated from INSEAD’s International Directors
Programme in September 2019.