My Family Home - Tony Allen

When asked to join the fledgling Greek office back in 2002 for a five year period my immediate response was that I’d go for 3 years, and if things went well, I’d stay for a little longer. Before I knew it I as on a plane to Athens with my wife Gordana and our baby daughter Isabella. Eighteen years later (and counting) I’m pleased to say that we are still here, although my daughter went off to university in the UK in September. Where does the time go…?

We are all tremendously proud of the success of the Greek office and believe that despite these challenging times we can look forward to the future with confidence. North would not have achieved that success without the support of our Greek Membership, whom I thank both professionally and personally, for their trust and confidence over the years. It was undoubtedly a challenge following on from Mike Salthouse in leading the office which he had already established as a formidable presence in Piraeus. At that time our Greek Membership accounted for some 10 million GT out of a total Membership of 40 million GT at North.

Throughout the years that followed our Greek Members have continued to support North and have been fundamental, not only to the success of the Greek office, but also the growth and success of the Club overall.

North has always placed great emphasis on service and making sure that we have a strong experienced team to support our Members. With that in mind it wasn’t long before Helen Yiacoumis joined the office in 2003, followed by Antigone Yanniotis in 2004 to further strengthen the FD&D team. Our office manager Anna Sarafidou helped us all find our feet and has been instrumental in establishing a flourishing office, including overseeing two office moves in the last 12 years.

The office continued to grow, much of it organic as our Greek Membership prospered, helping to establish us as one of the leading Club offices in Piraeus. By 2008 our Greek Membership had increased to over 16M GT resulting in our moving to bigger premises in Piraeus, just behind Agios Nikolaos, dedicated to the patron saint of Greece and protector of seafarers. At that point the office team totalled 7 staff but with new bigger premises and the Membership continuing to grow our numbers steadily increased. In the coming years Phillip Eccleston spent time with us and now heads up our Greek underwriting team from Newcastle, followed by Paul Flowers, Claire Andrews, Gillian Stanton, Ian Goulson and Gordon Robertson. Within short order we were also joined by Kostas Katsoulieris and Captain Dev Lajmi.

Our aim has always been to make sure that we are able to provide our Greek Members with the highest levels of local experience and service so that they can trade with confidence and navigate their way through the everchanging shipping and regulatory landscape. We also offer additional support through our Covid-19 interrupted annual Yacht Club seminar, roadshows covering a range of diverse topics, in-house bespoke seminars and latterly webinars and other digital initiatives.

Having again outgrown the office in 2018 we moved to our current home in Filonos Street, near the Church of St Spyridon, the patron saint of Piraeus. The Greek Membership now stands at over 42M GT with the Greek office team comprising 20 people including support staff. The local P&I team currently comprises Captain Dev Lajmi, Kostas Katsoulieris, Rasmus Tideman, Effie Koureta, Angelina Kofopoulou and Clare McDowell. Following Helen Yiacoumis’ recent departure, the FD&D team is managed by Antigone Yanniotis and Gillian Stanton, along with Dimitra Capas, Elisavet Papoutsi, Ruth Gallagher and Alexianna Kalafati. That strength in depth is mirrored in Newcastle representing a major investment in the Greek team. Our local wealth of experience and knowledge, backed up and supported by Newcastle, ensures that we continue to be able to provide our Members with the highest levels of cost effective service, built on long standing personal relationships and trust which lie at the heart of what we do.