Dr. Anil Sharma

Dr. Anil Sharma is the founder and CEO of GMS, the world’s largest buyer of ship and offshore assets. A household name in the maritime sector, Anil is not only a frequent speaker at industry conferences but has often served on the judging panel for international awards. His thought leadership and industry insight have seen him featured on Lloyd’s List ‘Top 100 influential people in shipping’ list for over a decade.

A US national with Indian origin, Anil began his career as an academic in Maryland (USA) before founding GMS in 1992. Over the past three decades, the company has seen steady growth to its current position as a world leader in ship recycling. It has successfully negotiated the recycling of more than 4,000 vessels of all types and sizes, including naval vessels, commercial ships, and offshore rigs and platforms.

Today, GMS has a significant global presence with offices in the U.S.A, Germany, Greece, Dubai, Singapore, Philippines, China, South Korea and Japan, as well as representative offices in Brazil, the UK, Ukraine, India, Turkey, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It delivers vessels to every major ship recycling center in the world and is the largest supplier of end-of-life tonnage to yards in the Indian sub-continent.

As the company grows, GMS is widening its portfolio of services beyond purchasing vessels for recycling to decommissioning offshore assets, ship ownership, ship financing, and investments in shipping companies and offshore maritime assets. Today the company’s ownership division – LILA GLOBAL - has developed a 30+fleet of bulkers and tankers.

A keen proponent of best practices, Anil is committed to ensuring that GMS meets the highest operating standards. Under his leadership, GMS has worked closely with IMO on the development of the Hong Kong Convention for Safe and Responsible Recycling (HKC) but is actively sharing knowledge and raising industry standards through the publication of Thought Leadership articles, books - The Green Handbook, The Recycling of Ships – and through its LRQA-certified Sustainable Ship and Offshore Recycling Program (SSORP); the first and only IACS class certified program in the world. SSORP has organized 320+ worker training sessions, training 5,100+ workers so far, and has supervised safe and responsible recycling.

Anil resides in Dubai with his family and remains a trailblazer in the ship recycling industry