Shipping Billionaires Race to Invest Pandemic-Era Fortunes
Wealthy marine transport families, from the Saades to the Apontes to Turkey’s Yildirims, are bolstering their empires and expanding their reach.
Yildirim Holding AS CEO Robert Yuksel Yildirim
Source: Yildirim Holding AS
Many of the fortunes forged during the pandemic have long since crumbled. Yet a $95 billion boom among a small group of wealthy shipping tycoons has prevailed, spurring a mad dash to invest and diversify even as they face a comeuppance.
Perhaps no story better illustrates this heady era of feverish demand, squeezed supply lines and soaring rates than Yildirim Holding AS. The under-the-radar Turkish company has more than tripled in value over the past three years, making the family behind it billionaires many times over and fueling ever-lofty ambitions.