Vassilis C. Constantakopoulos was a Greek Captain, Shipowner and Entrepreneur.
Personal life
"Captain Vassilis", as he was widely known, was born in 1935 in the village of Diavolitsi, in Messinia, southwest Peloponnese. After growing up in Messinia, he went to sea, gradually working his way up to master. When he came ashore in 1974 after 21 years, he established , which quickly expanded and today is one of the world’s largest container shipping owners/operators, with 58 ships. Captain Vassilis was married to Carmen Kiritsi in 1964. They had 3 sons and 7 grandchildren.
Career
Apart from shipping, he was involved in other business activities. Constantakopoulos also became involved in the tourism industry, and was the founder and president of , developers of the new destination Costa Navarino in his homeland Messinia. He was also the founder and president of Geohellas, an industrial minerals company involved in the mining, processing and marketing of industrial minerals from deposits in the Greek prefectures of Grevena and Kozani.
Today Costamare manages 58 ships and is a leading international owner of containerships, aggregating approximately 330,000 TEU, including 10 newbuild containerships on order and one second hand vessel to be delivered, ranging from about 1,000 TEUs to about 9,500 TEUs capacity. In 2006, Costamare celebrated 32 years in the maritime business, employing about 2.000 people
Captain Vassilis become involved in the environmental movement in the early 1980s. He was co-founder of HELMEPA. HELMEPA was founded in 1982 by Greek Shipowners and Greek Seafarers with the aim of promoting the protection of the sea environment. He was also a founding member of HELMEPA Junior and chaired both organizations. HELMEPA Junior trains young people to act as the courier of environmental messages whilst also bringing the children closer to shipping and to show them potential future career options. Since 1993, more than 45,000 children aged 6 to 13 years old, and 1,800 teachers, have participated all over Greece. In 1998 HELMEPA Junior was awarded the UNEP Global 500 prize.
Charity and awards
Constantakopoulos was a benefactor to several causes in Greece and other countries. In 2000, Constantakopoulos and his wife founded the Hellenic Studies Centre at the University of Beijing. Constantakopoulos served on the Boards of Directors of numerous Greek and international organizations in the maritime and other fields and received awards from the Academy of Athens, the European Union and several cities and chambers for his activities.
