Marine Plus S.A. was established by Mr. Dimitris Vranopoulos in London in 1988 and its subsidiary office was set up in Athens in 1990. The first overseas trip was to Shanghai in 1991, where Mr. Vranopoulos participated in the Marintec exhibition. With the assistance of a translator sourced through the Greek embassy, standing in a small booth, and handing out business cards in English and Chinese to all exhibitors, the first contacts with Chinese yards were established. The first repair in China was booked in Lifeng S/Y with a vessel owned by A.M. Nomikos. Since then Marine Plus has managed to be granted the confidence and trust both by the major Shipyards in China and other areas of the world (S/E Asia, Middle East, Europe, Americas) as well as the Greek shipping community, as a provider of high quality maritime services worldwide.
Today, with over 30 years of experience and offices in Athens, Istanbul, Singapore and Houston, Marine Plus can effectively provide almost any technical support required by vessels trading Worldwide, ranging from dry dockings, conversions, new building contracting/supervision, minor voyage or port repairs, BWMS, Scrubber, LNG fuel systems, other machinery equipment, IMO & VGP Sampling Tests and Analysis, fit-out solutions for the galley, laundry, and living quarters, VSAT services, supply of spares, supplies and provisions, UW services, FFE, LR/LB inspections, certification, repairs and more.
Marine Plus has built up a very close, long-term, and constructive cooperation with the best ship repair yards in the World. This has been a slow process that has taken years of commitment and hard work, a combination of strong interpersonal relationships with the senior management of these yards as well as a concentrated team effort to ensure each repair project undertaken is a success both for their Greek customers as well as the yards’ is representing. Thus, it is conducting over 150 dry dock repairs annually, and has been granted the trust by more than 200 loyal customers from the Greek Shipping Community.
As Mr. Vranopoulos explains ‘’Our real job begins after we receive a firm booking, especially during the vessel’s repair at the yard, where key milestones are monitored as well as overall progress, maintaining agreed schedules, docking dates, sufficient labor for prompt execution of works etc. During this period regular contact with the attending Supt Eng as well as the head office is maintained. Monitoring and expediting work progress is greatly assisted by our local associates who deal with working-level yard staff, whilst we also keep contact with senior yard management as and when their intervention is required.’’
With this mentality and proven professionalism, Marine Plus has managed to gain the trust of the Major S/Y facilities in China (both Government owned and Private) as well as to sign exclusive representation agreements with key vessels’ repairs facilities (S/Y) to other strategic locations Worldwide, such as Dubai Drydocks World, EDR Ship Repairs (S/Y) Belgium, NAUTA S/Y Poland, Unithai S/Y Thailand, MEC Panama and to create new partnerships with esteemed companies in various fields in Shipping services.
Worth to mention that Marine Plus:
- Exclusively represents SunRui Marine Environment Engineering, a subsidiary of CSSC Group, the largest Shipbuilding Conglomerate in the World. SunRui has developed the well known to the International Maritime Community products BalClor BWMS, SOxFree EGCS (Scrubber system), SCR De-NOX system, GasLink LNG/Methanol/Ammonia FGSS and can organize turn-key retrofitting projects in collaboration with Chinese Repair Shipyards.
- Exclusive represents Wuhan Marine Machinery Plant (Deck Machinery & Steering Gear), Suzhou City Muyi Shipping Equipment (GRE Piping & FPR Products), Josun Air Conditioner (A/C, Refrigeration and Ventilation Fans and TGA (The Galley Architect), which is a top-quality and reputable Maker of fit-out solutions for the galley, laundry, and living quarters in the Shipping industry. Marine Plus also represents GMSC, a company able to perform on board water sampling analysis for BWTS, EGCS, Grey Water etc. in China and other countries.
- Is specialized in stores and provisions for vessels calling in China and for initial supply regarding newbuilding projects.
- is also running 2 sister companies:
- JNE Marine who is the exclusive agent of Mitsubishi Purifiers in Greece. Also specialized in the supply of spares and specifically engineered components from the Chinese / Korean market.
- Marine Plus Safety which provides spare parts and attendance needs for FFE/LS Equipment as well as professional integrated communication system solutions for global marine engineering as exclusive agent of Jiaxing Kexun Electron CO.
- Another ambitious and very promising movement is the establishment of the Newbuilding Department which is in charge of NB projects, mainly in China where the company has a permanent association with well-established local brokerage houses who assist with securing off-market opportunities as well as due diligence with new yards and contract negotiation.