Hellespont Group (Shipping company, Greece)

Hellespont is a deep-see shipping company specialized in the transport of crude oil. The company is based in Piraeus and has agency operations in London and Manila. It operates four vessels: Hellespont Alhambra, Hellespont Metropolis, Hellespont Tara, and Fairfax.

Phrixos B. Papachristidis, born in Eleftheroupolis in 1901, moved to Canada in 1930 after the Great Depression. He opened a philatelic shop and became the largest wholesale stamp dealer in Canada, but the Second World War caused his bankrupt. In 1946, Papachristidis bought nine war-built dry cargos vessels from the Canadian government. The Phrixos B. Papachristidis Company, incorporated in Montreal in 1946 and later renamed Hellespont Maritime, specialized in deep-sea transport and its vessels flew the Canadian ensign. Hellespont is the ancient name of the Dardanelles strait.
In 1955, the company bought two oil tankers. The Emerillion, built in 1957 for Hellespont, was the largest tanker ever built in Canada to that time. In 1960-1965, the company operated six "Great Lakes" bulk carriers, which were sold in 1972. The company then moved back to Greece.