ABSTRACT
Transportation by sea is the leading mode of transportation worldwide, carrying over 90% of the global trade in volume terms (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD], 2018). The large bulk of sea transportation globally is facilitated by the US listed shipping companies 1 , 2 . Traditionally, public shipping companies exhibit a large concentration of ownership as specific individuals, families or holding companies hold large percentages of the total shares out held. Thus, it is very common for the owner to be also the CEO of the company. 3 However, institutional investors also hold a substantial percentage of ownership for the US listed shipping companies following the general trend of higher institutional ownership percentages for US listed firms (Schmidt and Fahlenbrach, 2017). Several large institutional investors build portfolios including listed shipping firms, as the great majority of the latter have adopted modern corporate structures which enable them to access the capital markets as a source of finance with favourable terms (Kavussanos and Tsouknidis, 2014; 2016). Despite the unique ownership structure of shipping companies and the importance of transportation by sea to the global economy and the international trade, little is known regarding the ownership structure of US listed shipping companies.
