Shipowner Kostis Agapitos has passed away

Shipowner Kostas Agapitos breathed his last at the age of 67, after an open heart operation, according to the first reports.

The Agapitos family began its activities with passenger Greek shipping in the early 1960s, with the establishment of AGAPITOS LINES. The company owned, operated and managed a fleet of ferry vessels. The business was greatly strengthened when Konstantinos and Antonis (respective sons of Giannis and Vassilis), joined the family business after completing their maritime studies.

From 1964 to 1992, the activities of the company’s shipping lines expanded to the Greek market, increasing the routes. Thus AGAPITOS LINES became, during these years, one of the main protagonists of the market.

Yiannis Agapitos and his son Konstantinos found AGAPITOS EXPRESS FERRIES ASSOCIATION (AEFA) with Konstantinos at the helm, as the managing director of the company. With the family’s long experience in the field, AEFA has focused on further quality improvement and innovative management to create a company capable of growing while, at the same time, being able to meet the demands of a rapidly changing market.

The impressive expansion and development of AEFA, within a short period of time, is a testament to the efforts of its people, to operate with its fleet emerging and profitable itineraries between Piraeus and the islands of Syros, Tinos, Mykonos and Paros, Naxos, Ios, Santorini.

In 1998, AEFA also entered the Ro/Ro market with the acquisition of 4 vessels.

In 1999, the company was acquired by Minoan Flying Dolphins (later renamed Hellas Flying Dolphins and, today, known as Hellenic Seaways). Konstantinos Agapitos, being the sole shareholder of AEFA at the time of the acquisition, also becomes the largest individual shareholder in this new company.

The Agapitos family has traditionally been active in the field of coastal shipping since 1964.

The founder of the company was Vasilios A. Agapitos, a self-made businessman who was born in Athens in 1933 to refugee parents from Asia Minor. From its establishment until its merger with Minoan Flying Dolphins, the company was active mainly in the Cyclades lines but also in other areas such as the Adriatic, the Ionian, Ikaria-Samos and the Dodecanese.

After 2000 and until 2018, the family participated in the share capital of Hellenic Seaways, while at the same time Antonios Agapitos, who has been active in the field as a shipowner since 1983, was a member of its board of directors, he was vice president as well as managing director from 2013 until sale of the company to the Attica businesses in 2018. In 2019 Vassilis Agapitos, active in the field of coastal shipping since 2012, continues the tradition and founds ALPHA LINES, adding the modern passenger speedboat SPEEDCAT l to its force in 2020.