Greek shipping and oil pioneer Mamidakis commits suicide

A police spokesman said Mamidakis was found dead with a gun next to his body in what appears to have been an act of suicide.

Mamidakis born in 1932 on the island of Crete, was chairman of Mamidoil-JetOil, which operates a network of 600 gas stations in Greece, Bulgaria, Kosovo and Albania, a fleet of 33 tanker trucks and seven tanker ships. The company also owns the largest single storage site in the Balkans and is the largest privately-held Greek company. Mamidakis was also involved in hotel management, and olive oil and wine production and was seen as “an example to others for his high ethical values and business practices”.

JetOil was formed in the late 1960s by Kyriakos, Giorgos and Nikos Mamidakis, and today JetOil Bunkering is the is the largest privately owned supplier of bunker fuel in Greece, serving clients and the islands with it own bunker vessels run by Jet-Tank Maritime and Styga Compania Naviera.

The company also has experience is operating bulkers and combi vessels.

Mamidoil-JetOil successfully applied for protection from its creditors in order to implement a streamlining plan on June 9, declaring it owed creditors EUR314m ($350m) at the end of 2015, while having cash reserves of EUR600,000 ($668,000).

Introduction by the Athens government a year ago of capital controls is seen as the prime reason the company’s demise and build up of debts. The general economic contraction, the slowdown in international economic activity, which has affected demand in the fuel market, and the reluctance of local banks to finance its activities, mainly through guarantees for oil imports, also added to its woes.