The billionaire shipping magnate braving the Strait of Hormuz | AFR

Greek “buccaneer” George Prokopiou’s Dynacom was one of the few legal operators in the early days of the war willing to sail to and from the Gulf.

Dynacom Tankers, owned by 79-year-old George Prokopiou, has sent at least five tankers through the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Gulf since the outbreak of war with Iran on February 28, making it one of a handful of legal operators that have been willing to brave the journey.

“Most owners have paused transits . . . until things calm down,” said one shipbroker. “But there are a few buccaneers willing to take the risk.”

“It’s during these periods that the truly elite ship owners tend to distinguish themselves,” he added, pointing to Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis’s willingness to risk German U-boat attacks in the Second World War and Norwegian magnate John Fredriksen’s move to buy up contracts to ship oil by tanker during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Summarising his approach in 2014, Prokopiou said: “If you are not a risk-taker, you are not in shipping. If you don’t want the risks, you buy US bonds.”

“He represents a certain way of doing business,” said Ed Finley-Richardson, a shipping investor and founder of Contango Research. “He’s one of a cohort of five to 10 owners who really overshadow everyone else, not because of the size of their fleet but also because they are willing to act boldly.”