On time... - Lloyd's List

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Mariella is a managing director and chartering manager,
overseeing the tanker fleet. After studying economics at
university in Naples, she moved to London as a trainee for
shipbroker Clarksons.
“I believe in having a significant experience outside the
boundaries of the family business; it is important to be an
employee before being an employer,” she says.
After a few months as a trainee she was offered a permanent
job brokering product tankers, and stayed for almost three
years. This is also where she met her husband Joe Green, who
was her boss and is still a director of Clarksons’ London tanker
department. She moved back to Italy and joined the family
company in 2004 so has seen the boom and the bust of the
noughties.
“at weekends or even eating your
turkey at Christmas, you end up
talking about shipping”
Alessandra followed a similar path and studied economics
at university before joining the business at the same time
as Mariella; having started in the operations team she now
works in the financial department and is also a managing
director. Her husband Raffaele Borriello works in the dry cargo
chartering department of the business as well.
In contrast to her sisters, Manuela studied law at university
in Rome and now works in the company’s legal department,
while her husband Giorgio Avino works in the dry cargo
chartering department of their uncle’s business – Michele
Bottiglieri Armatore.
“This is a family business but when I talk about family I
don’t just mean my parents and sisters, it’s everybody. We have
people who have been working here for more than 30 years,
itALy
d’Amico family
which makes the family feeling even stronger,” Mariella says.
“The secret is to get on well and not have arguments
within the family. At weekends or even eating your turkey at
Christmas, you end up talking about shipping. This is a good
thing but also a bad thing in the terms that you never really
stop – it’s a 24-hour job.”
Between them, the three daughters have five young children
ranging from seven months to three years and while childcare
may be widespread across other parts of Europe, Giuseppe
Bottiglieri Shipping in Naples has introduced an in-office
nursery.
“Since my sisters and I became mothers, we understand the
problem coping – trying to match your personal life and your
job,” says Mariella.
“It started as a personal need but then we understood that
many women have this problem so it is open to any woman in
the office. Whether it’s me or any other woman in the office, as
a mother they can go in the nursery and see what their children
are doing. This gives you the possibility to stay, with peace of
mind. And then you work better if you don’t have to worry
about your child.”
For now the children follow their mothers wherever they
go, travelling with them on business trips, and have already
become used to the international reach of the shipping
industry.
But do they want them to follow in the family footsteps?
“The strength of any family business is staying together. I
hope that all five of them have the qualities and should they
[want to], they are welcome,” Mariella says.
The process of handing down the business from one
generation to the next must be handled with care though, even
if takes a couple of decades.
“You don’t want to just change the top of management — it
takes a long time to get the qualifications and experience. A
surname is something we all have as heritage but you have to
show that you can do the job.”
D’amico family builds on maritime heritage
Latest generation entering the family business
LIKE many Italian shipping companies, the roots of d’Amico
Società di Navigazione go back to a group of brothers working
together in the maritime industry. Today their grandchildren
are also following the same route.
The company was set up in the 1950s in the crude tanker
sector and today spans product tankers, dry bulk, containers and
shipping services. Cousins Paolo d’Amico, the group’s president,
and Cesare d’Amico, the chief executive, descend from brothers
Ciro and Salvatore, with the latter’s namesake one of the most
active next generation members in the business today.
38 next generation 2012
The offspring of Paolo, who is also the head of the Italian
shipowners’ association Confitarma, are all understood to be
involved in the maritime world. Lorenzo is still at Cass Business
School in London and has yet to join the family business like
his siblings Manuela and Salvatore.
The d’Amico website gives little biographical detail but we
can learn from business networking sites such as LinkedIn that
Salvatore has been fleet manager at d’Amico Dry for over two
years having been marine supervising manager for the wider
group since April 2008.