The value of the vessels are discounted by 60 percent to approximate the typical level of financing Greek ship owners can obtain today, according to Anthony Zolotas, chief executive officer of ship financing adviser Eurofin SA.

Angelicoussis declined to comment on his net worth.

Prokopiou has a fortune valued at $2 billion, according to the Bloomberg ranking. Livanos controls at least $1.7 billion and Economou has a net worth of $1.5 billion. Their fortunes are comprised of stakes in their publicly traded shipping businesses and closely held vessels.

Livanos is the biggest shareholder in liquefied natural gas carrier operator Gaslog Ltd. and tanker owner Euronav NV. Prokopiou listed Dynagas LNG Partners LP on the New York Stock Exchange in 2013. Economou’s Dryships Inc. operates bulk carriers. Together, their fleets exceed 40 million deadweight tons. Livanos operates 83 vessels, while Prokopiou has 89 and Economou has 116, according to Shipping Finance.

The three billionaires declined to comment on their net worth, according to spokesmen.

Hellenic Fleet

Greeks have long dominated the shipping business. The nation’s fleet, numbering 3,669 vessels in 2013, is the largest in the world, according to the annual report of the Union of Greek Shipowners, making up more than 7 percent of the Greek economy and providing 192,000 jobs in 2013.

Greece’s shipping magnates control 23 percent of the world bulk carrier fleet, according to the report, even as their home country accounts for less than 0.4 percent of the world economy.

Their success in one of the most global industries stands in contrast to their country’s domestic troubles, where 36 percent of the population was at risk of poverty or exclusion from social benefits at the end of 2013, according to Eurostat, the statistics agency of the European Commission.

“There is a humanitarian crisis,” said Spyros Economides, a professor in international relations and European politics at the London School of Economics. “It’s not just the problems on the street, it’s much more endemic and deeper than that with people fearing they might get evicted from their homes, who can’t pay their electricity bills, who are having problems feeding their families.”