Harry de Quetteville in Piraeus

Almost three decades after the death of Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping has entered a new golden age, bringing Ferraris and diamonds to the country's shipping dynasties.

From the exalted fleet owners at the top to the engine-room boys at the bottom, Greece's most celebrated industry has never had it so good.

Unprecedented demand for the nation's ships has produced a new generation of Greeks out to make their fortunes on the high seas.

Though the fleets of Onassis and Niarchos are sailing into the sunset, their taste for the finer things in life has endured.

"Anyone with tonnage is making money, and this is a huge flash-money culture," said one analyst. "The owners are all out buying Porsches and Ferraris. Come to any industry party and count the diamonds."

One of the new breed is Harry Vafias, rarely away from the society pages, living what a shipping insider called "a fast cars, big parties, beautiful women life".

Mr Vafias is not bashful about his business perks. He began a recent magazine column on the industry by writing: "Now that everyone is happy and most importantly rich, let's take our monthly tour around paradise."

Other young owners, such as Dmitris Papadimitriou, have spent their money on property.

Mr Papadimitriou, with more than two million tons of shipping to his name, has the builders in, re-doing the peninsula he owns on the Aegean island of Schinoussa. He is rumoured to be interested in acquiring the island of Ofidoussa just opposite.

Throughout the industry, one explanation is given for the boom times: China.

"Greek shipping is having a golden age which we have never seen before," said Petros Aivazidis of the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping. "It's a huge boom brought on by development in China.

"Rates now are five times what they were a couple of years ago. People are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a day for ships."

The shipping industry has become a weathervane for the extraordinary development of the Chinese economy. In ports along the Chinese coastline, vessels from half way around the world deliver huge cargoes of raw materials to fuel the country's growth.

Though many cargoes come from as far afield as South America, the ships that carry them are - as often as not - from Greece, the world's biggest shipowning nation.

"During my 25-year career I've never seen a market like this," said Manolis Fotiadis-Negroponte of Cyprus Shipping, Greece's 15th-biggest fleet.

"China is importing vast quantities of iron ore and coal. And, of course, there are strong exports going the other way too."

The dramatic upsurge in Greece's shipping industry over the past couple of years has seen much needed cash flow into the indebted local economy. It represents almost three per cent of the gross domestic produce.

But it has also lined the pockets of the new generation of wealthy owners, whose only concern now is when the bubble might burst.

Well dressed and internationally educated, they are a far cry from the weatherbeaten skippers turned entrepreneurs of years ago.

"There is a generation of 20- and 30-somethings now who are very different to the back-of-a-fag-packet calculating founding fathers," said Tim Barraclough, from Clarkson's shipbrokers.

"Turnover is such that prudent Greek ship owners, who once bought vessels only when the market was low, are now clamouring to add to their fleets and cash in still further.

"Ship values are now very high," said Mr Aivazidis. "But still Greeks are trying to buy any ship because they don't want to miss out.

"Demand now means that new ships won't be delivered for five to six years. Every yard in the world is full."

The market could crash if too many ships are built but analysts predict that there will be no slump for some time. Meanwhile, as with all booms, everyone in Greek shipping is dreaming that the good times will last forever.

As Mr Aivazidis said: "It just keeps getting better and better."