In 1955, Papachristidis made his first move into the carriage of oil by ordering two 20,000 dwt oil tankers in Belgium. This initiative, soon to be rewarded with time charters from oil majors, set the stage for further penetration into this fast-growing sector of shipping.

The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 gave rise to an increase in the upstream movement of iron ore from the lower St. Lawrence to Lakes Ontario, Erie and Michigan and in the downstream movement of Canadian and American export grain from Lakehead to lower St. Lawrence transhipment terminals. A new generation of “Great Lakes” bulk carriers was conceived so as to maximise the cargo lift on Seaway dimensions. Between 1960 and 1965, Papachristidis ordered six of the maximum size 26,000 deadweight ton “lakers” in Canada, and, through imaginative financing and aggressive pricing, was able to break into this closed domestic trade with his modern fleet of Canadian-flag vessels. The Papachristidis Great Lakes fleet operated successfully parallel to the deep-sea fleet during the next decade and extended the Canadian-flag activities at a time when Canadian operators could no longer compete in international trades under the domestic register. In 1972, an uncertain future in Great Lakes shipping induced Papachristidis to sell the laker fleet, thereby disposing of the last Canadian-flag vessels the Group was to own.

Some of the Hellespont`s major customers were forced to terminate or discontinue their long-term commitments to employ the Group’s vessels. This unexpected turn of events forced the company to assume commercial and technical management roles on a scale it had never known. Hellespont`s financial stability was preserved through a combination of earnings from remaining long-term charters and a gradual improvement in the shipping market starting in 1986. Considerable resources were dedicated to strengthening the Group’s ship management and ship chartering capabilities.

This expansion programme included the acquisition of a 51% interest in six ultra large crude carriers from the Loews Corporation in 1990. The six ULCC’s owned by the jointly-held entity, Hellespont Shipping Corp, developed a strong following among charters because of their high quality and of the standards to which they were maintained and operated. They traded successfully through one of the most challenging periods in modern tanker history. These vessels remained active in the service of major oil companies and traders until well beyond their 25th anniversaries. Hellespont took advantage of the high demolition market from 2002 onwards to dispose of these ships and make way for the new double hull units it had ordered.

The ULCC’s, delivered between December 2001 and March 2003, were designed to very high standards in keeping with the tradition of safety and excellence for which the Hellespont Group has been known. Apart from being amongst the largest tanker vessels in the world, these vessels were best known as the “White Elephants” which took into consideration the sheer size of the vessels but also their all-white coating of the hull, the accommodation and the deck.

As part of the fleet expansion process, in early 2005 the company acquired four Suezmax tankers built between 1996 and 1998

All vessels acquired or contracted since late 2004 were financed in the German KG market, which had the appetite for more tonnage in all tanker segments. Hellespont completed the Panamax Newbuilding project in 2007 by taking delivery of the last two vessels from the yard in China. At the same time they bought a 1999 build Suezmax Tanker the same year and placed an order for six newbuilding IMO2 tankers for delivery 2009 and two newbuilding IMO2 tankers for delivery in 2010.

The year 2009 saw the three 17.000 newly build chemical tankers as well as one PSV joining the fleet.