Founder of Danaos Shipping Dimitris Coustas dies
Danaos Founder Dimitris Coustas, father of Dr . John Coustas, President and CEO of Danaos Corporation, died on Tuesday June 18, 2013 at the age of 86. Mr. Dimitris Coustas, founder of Danaos Shipping and father of Dr. John Coustas, the President and CEO of Danaos Corporation, passed away on Tuesday, June the 18th. He was married to Amalia with whom they had their son John and daughter Maria, said in the company's press release.
The funeral was held today in Athens, in a private circle of family and close family friends. Company founder Dimitris Coustas, born in 1927, began his carrier as an entrepreneur ashore, establishing a successful shoe factory that grew to 250 employees. In the early 1960s he was drawn to shipping at a time when many Greek ship-owners, including so-called “golden Greeks” such as Onassis and Niarchos, were riding the crest of a boom in post-war trade to expand their fleets. In 1963 he bought his first ship, a 3,600 dwt single-deck freighter that was renamed Amalia in honor of his wife Amalia Coustas.
As early as the 1970s, Danaos took the step of ordering a newbuilding in Japan. By 1975 the fleet had increased to five tweendeckers, ranging up to about 9,000 dwt in size. Danaos Shipping Co. Ltd was introduced the following year, 1976. By the year 1987 Mr. Dimitris Coustas appointed his son, Dr. John Coustas as Managing Director of Danaos and remained since as a non-executive President of the Company being active in the decision making and the activities of the group until the age of 82, when he retired in his country house at the seaside of Porto Rafti, outside Athens.
