OPEN Echoes - EP005 - Dr. Stavros Karamperidis

OPEN Echoes

OPEN ECHOES Episode #5 An interview with Dr. Stavros Karamperidis OPEN Echoes reflects the original thoughts, analyses, and viewpoints shared by academics, thought leaders and non-military experts — spreading ideas, perspectives, and insights across the globe. It’s our hope that the insights shared in these episodes will help to impact and influence thinking and conversations long after you take off your headphones. OPEN Echoes alternates episodes between compelling interviews with non-NATO subject matter experts, and readings from OPEN's wide range of publications. In this episode, we interview Dr. Stavros Karamperidis . — Dr. Stavros Karamperidis is a lecturer in Maritime Economics at the University of Plymouth and serves as the Head of the Maritime Transport Research Group. With over 15 years of experience in academia and strong industry involvement, he has established himself as an expert in maritime security, including piracy, decarbonization, and digitalization. His research is driven by a commitment to understanding and addressing the challenges facing the maritime industry. Dr. Karamperidis is particularly passionate about shedding light on the hidden heroes of global trade—the seafarers—and highlighting their critical role in maintaining the global supply chain. His work on piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, which has cost the blue economy an estimated 1.9 billion USD annually, underscores his dedication to uncovering the root causes of piracy and advocating for comprehensive solutions. Dr. Karamperidis' research contributes not only to enhancing our understanding of maritime security issues but also to finding practical ways to mitigate their impact on both the industry and the broader economy. This OPEN Echoes interview explores: - Recognition of the vital role of seafarers in global trade, the impact of COVID-19 on maritime industry and realization of its significance. - Exploration of piracy's economic impact and root causes, including the annual 1.9 billion USD cost of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. - Examination of historical piracy incidents and patterns, including Somalia's piracy spike. - Interaction of piracy with geopolitical factors, the influence of political conflicts on piracy activities, and the connection between oil prices and piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. - Strategies for addressing piracy, including the importance of land-based issues and root causes; coordinating efforts among local authorities, NGOs, and naval forces; and optimizing resource allocation in the face of limited naval assets. Summary and conclusion: - The need for a comprehensive, coordinated approach to tackling piracy. Dr. Karamperidis' article (in partnership with Dr. Fotios Moustakis) "The Gulf of Guinea (GoG) and Maritime Security," is available on here. — Welcome to OPEN Echoes. OPEN stands for “Other Perspectives Exchange Network.” Our mission is to explore diverse, insightful and sometimes disruptive viewpoints on matters crucial to NATO. The lightly-edited transcript of this episode’s interview with Dr. Karamperidis follows: --- Dave Summers: Stavros, so nice to meet you. Dr. Stavros Karamperidis: Likewise, Dave. It's a great pleasure to be here. Dave: Let's just jump in. If you don't mind, I typically have our guests introduce themselves. So, if you don't mind, just give us a short introduction as to who you are and how you got to this point in your life. Dr. Karamperidis: OK. So, my name is Stavros. I'm a lecturer in Maritime Economics at the University of Plymouth and Head of the Maritime Transport Research Group. And I've been working in the academia in the last 15 years, but I'm also having great involvement with the industry and that's why if you see my CV, you will see that I have a good interaction with a lot of research that I'm doing. And one part of that is the article that you're discussing from NATO where part of my research I'm having three main pillars. The first one is on decarbonization. The second is