TITLE:
What Type of Ownership and Control a Shipping Company Should Have: Family or Public?
AUTHORS:
Alexandros M. Goulielmos
KEYWORDS:
A Family Firm or a Public One? What Type Dominated in 2007? A Growth Model of an Unlisted Shipping Company, A Growth Model of a Listed One, The Advantages and Disadvantages of a Shipping Family Firm, The Advantages and Disadvantages of a Shipping Public Firm
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.17 No.5,
May
28,
2026
ABSTRACT: We presented the two main types of ownership and control of the worldwide shipping companies, and revealed their advantages and disadvantages. This issue started at the time when ownership separated from control, and at the time when stock exchanges appeared to provide finance to Public Firms through the placement of their shares. Despite the fact that a number of decades have passed since the “separation”, the Family Firms dominated in the Shipping Industry even nowadays. This rather paradox we will try to explain. We also showed how a Family Firm grows over time and how a Public Firm grows also by facing the restrictions imposed by the capital market. We also showed how a listed shipping company can grow and, at the same time, increase its profits. Moreover, we showed that by assuming that the growth of the companies listed and unlisted, follows a “normal distribution”, at the same time we move away from historical reality.