Athanasios Pallis

Thanos Pallis is Professor in Port Economics & Policy, Department of Shipping, Trade & Transport, University of the Aegean, Greece.
In 2020 he was re-elected President of International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME). The Vice-Chair of the Port Performance Research Network (PPRN), he is a founding member & co-director of PortEconomics.

His research and teaching interests include port economics, management and policy; (maritime) transport policies and governance; cruise shipping; & microeconomic and industrial policies in transportation.

Academia

Thanos was a Fulbright Scholar (2008-11) at Columbia University, New York, US (Centre for Energy, Marine Transportation & Public Policy). He served as Adjunct Professor at the Centre for International Trade and Transportation, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada (2008-2017); and as Visiting Professor at School of Management, Universidad de Los Andes Colombia (2019-20). Previous visiting professorships include Athens University of Economics Greece; University of Antwerp, Belgium; University of Old Dominion, Virginia US; University of Texas A&M, US; Parthenope University of Naples; & Hong-Kong Polytechnic University. 

Esteem indicators:
Thanos won twice the “Maritime Economics & Logistics Best Paper Award” of the International Maritime Association of Maritime Economists: in 2017, leading research on private entry in cruise terminal operations; and in 2008, leading research on container port concession agreements. He won the “Best European Study 1999” Competition, organised by the European Community Studies Association (ECSA). The (co)author of 64 papers published in academic journals (45 with Impact Factor), more than 100 peer reviewed papers presented at academic conferences, 8 books and 22 book chapters - with his work cited more than 4.300 times (h-index = 37) - and guest editor of 11 special issues of scholarly journals (9 with Impact Factor). His books examine the European Port Policy (published in English, Japanese, and Greek), the Common EU Maritime Transport Policy (published in English and Greek) and the Maritime Transport: The Greek Paradigm (in English)

He received his BSc (Economics) from Athens University of Economics, Greece (1992), his MA (Economics of European Integration) from Exeter University, UK (1993), and a Ph.D. from the School of Management, University of Bath, UK in 1998. 

Professional Expertise

Thanos served as General Secretary for Ports & Port Policy, at the Ministry of Development, Competitiveness and Shipping, Hellenic Republic, and as Member of the National Council for the Development of State assets (2011-12). His responsibilities included the representation of Greece at the European Ports Policy decision-making, and negotiations with the IMF/European Commission/ECB Troika on Greek port policy reform.

He has worked in shaping ports and maritime logistics in all different continents. He is currently the chief consultant of the UN program on “COVID-19 Response on Transport/Connectivity and Trade” and a member of the International Association of Ports & Harbours (IAPH) Task Force on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on ports.  He has contributed in research in North America (Transport Canada: Port Performance Indicators and Benchmarks, 2007; Atlantic Gateway Research Initiative, 2007, Port governance reform, 2019) and the Association of American Port Authorities (Port Customer Service Initiative, 2012); in South America on container port development (Chile, 2013); in Asia defining a maritime strategy (Turkey, 2008; Bangladesh, 2018); in Africa on port privatisation and concessions (UNCTAD Nigeria, 2011); in Europe for OECD (2015) an Cruise Europe (2018) on cruise ports. He is a regular advisor of European Commission, the European Seaports Organisation (ESPO) national governments and European ports on port issues, he was Secretary General of MedCruise (2013-17), the association representing more than 100 cruise ports in 20 countries in the Med.

Contract research includes projects and consultancy studies examining the structures of the European port industry and other maritime topics – and has been financed, among others, by competition authorities in Europe and North America, port authorities, associations representing port and shipping interests, and several terminal operators, shipping and maritime related companies.