Greek shipping pioneer Athina Martinou dead at 97
Athina (Nounou) Martinou, a key figure in modern Greek shipping and the global maritime industry died on Friday, at the age of 97.
Born in 1926 in Glyfada, an Athenian suburb in the city’s southern coast, she started her professional career working at her father’s law office.
In 1971 she made the decision to go into the management of her family’s ships (née Methenitis). Together with her sons, Thanasis, Dinos and Andreas, she founded the company Thenamaris Ships Management.
In 1990, Thanassis Martinos split from his brothers to found Eastern Mediterranean Maritime, while in 1998 youngest son Andreas set up Minerva Maritime.
Today, Andreas’ son, Andreas junior, has now taken over at Minerva and Nikolas Martinos, son of Dinos, at Thenamaris.
Speaking in a documentary about shipowners in 2021, Martinou described how she got involved in shipping. “I am a Cephalonian, but a role in my love for the sea was that I was born in Glyfada and I saw the ships passing by and I told my friends ‘we will make barges too’ and we did it. We were obsessed with it and we did it and the whole family made barges.”
The funeral service will be held in a private ceremony at 1 p.m. on Monday at the Church of Panagia Faneromeni in Vouliagmeni.
