Dimitris is a qualified mechanical engineer and has been leading the Business Development & External Affairs division of LEYAL since 2004, having overseen the recycling of more than 500 vessels, including projects with Oil Majors, European Governments & Navies, as well as most major shipping companies. During his tenure at LEYAL, he was involved in the first application of the Basel Convention for the export of a vessel from Europe for recycling and also has seen the company become the first Turkish ship recycling facility to be certified to the IMO Hong Kong Convention by Lloyds Register. More recently, the LEYAL Group facilities became the first non-European ship recycling facilities to join the EU List of approved facilities under the EU Ship Recycling Regulation in 2018.
Dimitris has served as the ship recycling industrial advisor to the national delegation of Turkey to the IMO, participating in the drafting of the IMO Hong Kong Convention and the associated Technical Guidelines between 2004 and 2012, as well as attending the Diplomatic Conference for the adoption of the IMO Hong Kong Convention in 2009. He also servered as a member of the BIMCO subcommittee responsible for the drafting of the standard ship recycling contract RECYCLECON, published in 2012. He is a founding member of the International Ship Recycling Association (ISRA), an international association of premier green recycling facilities based in the Hague, The Netherlands.