Dimitri Tsiftsis
Regional Director
The BMA’s Piraeus office was established in 2014 with the aim to provide assistance on the ground to its many clients in Greece. Greek owners make up approximately 55% of the total European maritime sector and so having an office on the spot was crucial to ensure an excellent service for them. However, in 2017 the decision was taken to broaden the amenities offered by the office so that it was able to provide a full range of services including registration, seafarers & manning and technical assistance, not only to local clients but also to others further afield within the region.
Today we are delighted to have over 300 vessels of Greek interest on our books which means The BMA is ranked as the 5th registry in the region. The office is particularly flexible when it comes to ship registration with a range of vessels including tankers, bulk carriers, LNG, LPG passenger, general cargo, offshore and yachts on our register.
Of the many transactions now undertaken in the Piraeus office, we are pleased to include change of ownership or change of manager. We are also able to handle all aspects of a change of vessel name or transfer of a vessel from another flag to The Bahamas. And, of course, we are well equipped to process mortgage registrations and discharges.
The team in Piraeus is headed up by BMA Regional Director, Dimitri Tsiftsis, who has many years’ experience in maritime having worked for shipping companies, class societies, and for companies organising events and exhibition stands. Supporting him in Piraeus are: Kyra Fraser, the Greek office registrar who has worked in registration for over ten years; Technical and Compliance Officer Christos Papastathoppoulos; Efstathia Gkinni, Senior Administrative Assistant with many years’ experience working on seafarer and registration services; and assisting the registrar, Maria Manolakaki.
Although the office was originally set up to support the Greek market, its sphere of influence has now expanded to include Cyprus, Turkey, The Black Sea, Israel and the Middle East. With such a wide area to cover and the number of Greek clients registered with The BMA, the Piraeus team is always busy, working round the clock to register new ships, answer technical or seafarer queries and dealing with whatever else arises.
