Indian-American head of U.S. shipping company in list of most influential people in industry

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An Indian-American who heads the company GMS, the world’s largest buyer of ships and offshore assets, has been listed among the 50 “Most Influential” people in the tanker shipping and trade industry.

Anil Sharma, president  and CEO of GMS, was featured in the annual supplement of Tanker Shipping & Trade’s Industry Leaders: 50 Most Influential People in Tanker Shipping & Trade today. This is just the latest of the many “most-influential” lists where Sharma has appeared over the years.

“I am honoured with this acknowledgement of the hard work and dedication to responsible ship recycling that the GMS Green Team has been consistently improving through the years,” Sharma responded in the press release from GMS March 26.

Founded in 1992 in Cumberland, Maryland, today GMS has a presence in 9 countries: USA, UAE, Greece, Germany, India, Japan, Singapore, China, and South Korea and several representative offices in Turkey and India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and China. The company is growing rapidly with the addition of new offices almost every year, the press release said.

“We remain truthful to our Clients who trust us to assist them in the safe disposal of their units and we maintain our promise for unparalleled personalised service unaffected by market fluctuations, always remaining loyal to our best customer service practices and the continuous efforts for the betterment of the ship recycling industry in South Asia,” Sharma added.

Sharma, who has a Master’s (MBA) and Doctorate (DBA) degrees in Business Administration from a U.S. university, “has dedicated the last 25 years of his career building the GMS brand across the world,” the press release says.

The company says its mission is to create value in aging assets for disposal while improving health, safety and environmental standards throughout the world. It describes itself as “the world’s LARGEST and ONLY ISO 9001 (BV) certified Cash Buyer of ships for recycling.”

Lloyd’s List of the 100 Most Influential People in Shipping includes Sharma for most of its 8 editions. In its latest list (2017) which Lloyd’s brings out every December, the magazine says Sharma “Plays an indispensable role in ship recycling.” And in its 2014 list, it said, “As head of the world’s largest cash buyer of ships for recycling, Dr Sharma is not afraid to be the public face of the industry.”