A fresh influx of shipowners and shipping capital is adding weight to an already formidable maritime cluster on the Côte d’Azur. Sam Chambers gears up for his annual trip to the principality’s yacht club for the exclusive Maritime CEO Forum.
Monaco’s shipping community is enjoying another growth spurt, with a fresh influx of owners, investors and maritime businesses adding to one of Europe’s most concentrated clusters of shipping decision-makers.
Norwegian shipping title TradeWinds recently described the principality as the “new darling for shipowners”, an assessment backed by some notable recent arrivals.
Among the biggest is Tor Olav Trøim. The Norwegian shipping and offshore investor moved from London to Monaco last year, with Norwegian financial newspaper Finansavisen reporting that the business activities of his Magni Partners operation and its team were moving with him.
British shipping and property billionaire David Reuben has become the latest member of the UK’s super-rich to leave for Monaco. The 88-year-old, who built his early fortune with brother Simon through metals trading before expanding into shipping, property and private equity, had been living in London.
These new arrivals bring significant shipping capital allocators into a tiny jurisdiction already home to an outsized collection of owners, managers and investors.
Emanuele Lauro’s Scorpio has long been headquartered in Monaco, while Eyal Ofer’s Ofer Global also calls the principality home. John Michael Radziwill’s C Transport Maritime is another major presence, managing around 120 dry bulk vessels at any given time.
They sit alongside names including d’Amico Tankers Monaco, Hafnia, Celsius Management, Marfin Management, International Andromeda Shipping, Fratelli Cosulich Monaco, Ineos Monaco and Sea World Management.
The numbers underline how the cluster has developed. The Monaco Chamber of Shipping was established in 2006 by just seven founding members. That rose to 20 companies the following year and 24 in 2008. Today the chamber says it represents 51 Monaco-based maritime companies, with international shipping businesses in the principality employing more than 1,000 people.
The chamber’s membership now spans owners, charterers and fleet managers as well as brokers, lawyers, insurers, accountants and other maritime specialists, giving Monaco something far more valuable than simply a collection of wealthy shipowners with Riviera addresses. It increasingly has the characteristics of a self-reinforcing maritime ecosystem.
Sébastien Knecht de Massy, who works for INEOS and is also the president of the Monaco Chamber of Shipping, says the shipping hub is “thriving”.
“One of Monaco’s strengths is the concentration of key players in the industry,” he explains. “Within a few hundred metres you will find some of the world’s most respected owners and the decision makers behind a large share of the global tanker, gas, cruise and dry cargo ships.”
Tax inevitably forms part of the attraction. Britain’s abolition of its long-standing non-dom regime in April 2025 has altered the calculations of internationally mobile entrepreneurs and investors.
Yet tax alone does not explain Monaco’s maritime pull. Political stability, proximity to France and Italy, easy access through Nice airport, an international workforce and perhaps most importantly the sheer density of shipping contacts all count in its favour.
The disadvantages are equally obvious. Office space is scarce, salaries and accommodation are expensive and recruiting staff into one of the world’s costliest property markets can be challenging.
On October 27, Splash hosts its sixth invitation-only Maritime CEO Forum at the Yacht Club de Monaco.
The line-up itself offers something of a snapshot of the ecosystem Monaco now attracts, with CTM chairman John Michael Radziwill, d’Amico chief Cesare d’Amico, DHT boss Svein Moxnes Harfjeld, Borealis Maritime CEO Christoph Toepfer and executives from JP Morgan, V.Group, Star Bulk and International Andromeda among those taking part.
