Evgenia Papapontikou, Chief Financial Officer at a major shipping company, speaks on “Fair Winds and Following Seas”.
“I come from Oinousses. My entire family and relatives have a long maritime tradition — the sea is our life. It is our identity. We owe so much to the wives of seafarers for countless reasons. They held their families and homes together. On maritime islands, society was matriarchal, and there was always harmony, love, understanding and mutual respect between the seafarer and his wife,” Ms. Papapontikou tells us.
Speaking about young people, she stresses:
“Shipping is the centre of the world and of global developments. Whatever happens in the world, we in shipping learn it first. It is Greece’s most important economic sector and a highly rewarding career path for young people. Today’s seafarers are well-educated professionals, living in an international environment and constantly updated on new technologies, global trends and developments. We must not forget that the seafarer is the first ‘fuel’ of the ship.”
Explaining her own decision to pursue a career in shipping, Ms. Papapontikou says:
“I traveled with my father and the rest of my family when I was 15, and I loved it. As a little girl, when I accompanied my mother to shipping offices, I admired the women at their desks with their typewriters and thought to myself: ‘This is what I want to do in my life.’”
Produced and presented by Antonis Karagiannakis