Chief Operating Officer, Dorian Lpg
Search every verified Alexander Hadjipateras interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Alexander Hadjipateras, Chief Operating Officer at Dorian LPG, has spoken in several industry forums about the challenges and opportunities facing shipping, particularly regarding decarbonization, technology, and human factors. He has described decarbonization as both exciting and daunting, noting that there is no short-term panacea and that collaboration between shipowners and major customers is needed to guide solutions. Hadjipateras has stated that Dorian LPG has invested in a carbon capture company and that he believes carbon capture will be part of a bridge solution for meeting environmental targets. He has also discussed the use of data and automation, saying the company uses a tool that asks crew daily questions about their well-being and that data is increasingly used for human factor assessment)Skip. He has expressed optimism about Greek shipping, citing young talent and a fading brain drain, while also calling for a stronger startup ecosystem in Greece to support maritime innovation. Hadjipateras has addressed geopolitical and operational challenges, including the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on seafarers. He stated that Dorian LPG has Russians and Ukrainians on the same vessels and has helped relocate Ukrainian families, while working to accommodate Russian seafarers wanting to extend contracts. He described the situation as extremely challenging and said the company has tripled down on communication with vessels. On the topic of safety, he noted that the company joined the Together in Safety platform and focuses on incident prevention through a structured approach. Hadjipateras has also commented on the cyclical nature of shipping, advising that companies should keep leverage low and maintain strong balance sheets to survive downturns.
“Dorian LPG is a shipping company. We focus entirely on the shipping of a product — liquefied petroleum gas, which means propane and butane — and our ports of loading are terminals; we load about 50% of the time out of the US and that US expansion has helped produce a very strong market.”
“These LPG vessels are very expensive — they can range anywhere from $68 million to $120 million — and they're very profitable for the shipyards, which means sometimes a lot of them are built and that contributes to one of the industry’s challenges: oversupply.”
“LPG is part of the clean energy transition — it's a cleaner fuel — and the newer LPG vessels can use LPG as fuel as an option when it is priced better.”
“Decarbonization excites me but it is daunting — in the short term there is no panacea, and getting to the right solutions requires shipowners and major customers like Shell or Exxon to take steps together so yards and manufacturers respond to those requirements.”
“As a company we have invested in a carbon capture company and I think carbon capture will be part of the bridge solution to achieve environmental targets — many ships will need to capture carbon and offload it.”
“For the last five, six years we've had armed guards aboard our vessels and since we put armed guards on board we've had zero piracy cases; the guards are ex‑special forces, typically three, they carry weapons (kept secured on board) and their presence is a major deterrent, though we've sometimes had to do evasive manoe...”
“I believe there will be a reduction in the number of seafarers on board vessels as AI and automation increase, though I’m optimistic people can be reskilled; for toxic future fuels like ammonia I would only want to go on a ship where the engine room is mostly unmanned or where there are appropriate safeguards.”
“Shipping is highly cyclical — many companies have disappeared after booms — so you should be very careful about cycles, keep leverage at a low to medium level and maintain a strong balance sheet to survive downturns; restructurings and refinancings may be necessary.”
“One of the things I talked about today is using data as a tool to help us bridge to the future; an independent company that collects statistics helps you be more predictive in terms of looking at incidents.”
“We were delighted to join Together in Safety, a free platform that focuses on several key elements; we're focusing on incident prevention so we try and have a structured approach with an architecture so that we're not overburdening the crew.”
“Technology can be a crucial factor in avoiding these kind of incidents, but what about the human factor? The human element is at the forefront of how we think.”
“We work very closely on diversity on board because we have multinational crews; we're focusing on communication, building teamwork and resilience to gel together as a unit to avoid the possibility of human-related incidents.”
“We're using our new tool that asks the crew different questions every day about how they're feeling in a simple way; that picks up more on the well‑being side so we're seeing data make its way into human factor assessment and then we review that back on the office side.”
“We have as we speak today Russians and Ukrainians on the same ship; we have taken Ukrainian families and helped them relocate outside of Ukraine, and with a Russian draft we're trying to work to accommodate our Russian seafarers who want to extend contracts.”
“It's very difficult when seafarers are maybe blamed for foreign policy decisions that they had nothing to do with, so I think you just have to have an extra laser focus.”
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