NEW YORK – Angeliki Frangou, Chairman and CEO of Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange and hosted a dinner and reception at the Metropolitan Club marking the 60th anniversary of the shipping industry leader that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYSE: NM.

The orders of the day for Frangou, who was the first woman to be honored as Commodore of the Year by the Connecticut Maritime Association, were expressions of pride in the achievement of the company, and appreciation and thanks for those who helped make it possible.

“We have achieved an enterprise value of $7 billion through the help of a lot of people who are in this room,” she said at the Metropolitan Club.

Frangou, who was educated as an engineer and has distinguished herself as an entrepreneur, acquired Navios, which was incorporated in 1954 as a wholly owned subsidiary of US Steel, through a reverse merger in 2004.

The company which was established to facilitate the transportation of iron ore from South America has experienced a remarkable expansion since its IPO in 2005.

“A new era started shortly after Navios’ 50th anniversary…though continuing the legacy of a great company,” she said.

Frangou founded two more NYSE-listed companies and one private logistics company in Uruguay. Navios reports that is has achieved significant growth metrics, “including, 581% fleet capacity growth; $8.7 billion of debt and equity raised; 1,483% market cap increase and 915% increase in enterprise value.”

She told the Wall Street Transcript that “our long-term core fleet consists of 56 vessels totaling 5.8 million deadweight tons.”

The special guests on Wall Street and at the Uptown club included Luis Almagro, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, and Mario Bergara, Minister of Economy and Finance of Uruguay.

Frangou welcomed the guests and began her brief presentation with a brief overview of the history of Navios, which she said means “vessel.”

Frangou about the Navios core values, emphasizing the care they take in their relationships with clients and said “Our ability to honor our commitments has made us able to transact business that others cannot.”

She said that Navios’ most important asset is its human capital and the introduced and thanked the senior management team who joined her at the podium. “These are not only my business colleagues, these are my family. That has been extremely important for how we have developed this company,” Frangou said.

“Last of not least I want to thank the Navios alumni…we thank you for creating this company and keeping the legacy, and we thank our business partners who helped us become who we are, starting with our investment bankers, our lawyers and our accountants. These are the people who stood next to us as we grew our company.”

Earlier in the day Frangou was joined by Minister of Foreign Affairs Almagro and Minister of Economy and Finance Bergara on a visit to the New York Stock Exchange which included presentations, a press roundtable discussion and participation in the Closing Bell Ceremony. Almagro and Bergara spoke after Navios presented a corporate overview.

“Navios is one of the leading global brands in seaborne shipping, specializing in the worldwide carriage, trading, storage and related logistics of international bulk cargoes. For 58 years, raw materials producers, agricultural traders and exporters, industrial end users, ship owners, charterers, ship and derivative brokers, agents, and financial business partners have relied on Navios’ expertise and innovation,” according to its website.

The company has offices in Piraeus, New York, Montevideo, Antwerp, Buenos Aires, Asuncion. The Navios Group of companies includes Navios Maritime Partners, LP, listed on the NYSE under the symbol NYSE: NMM and Navios Maritime Acquisition Corporation, listed on the NYSE under the symbol NYSE: NNA.

Frangou earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at Fairleigh Dickinson University, graduating summa cum laude, and she has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University. In 2011, she was named Fortune Magazine’s Global Edition’s Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business.

Nikolas Bornozis,  the founder, President and CEO Capital Link, whose 8th annual “Invest in International Shipping” will be held in New York on March 20, was asked about the world-class status of the Greek shipping industry. “Greeks have traditionally been powerful in international shipping. Throughout history they have been great merchants and seamen.”  He noted that Greek ships comprise about 20 percent of the world’s shipping capacity. “They transport the world’s goods everywhere, properly and on time,” he said.