Marinakis started working in the shipping at the age of 21 and formed his first company when he was just 23. Today, at the age of 42, he is chairman and chief executive of Crude Carriers Corp. which listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in March. He has also been the chairman of Nasdaq-listed Capital Products Partners LP (CPLP) since it was formed in 2007 and he has been chief executive and a director of Capital Maritime since it was incorporated in 2005. Before that, he was the commercial manager of Capital Ship Management and for the past 15 years has been active in various other family businesses, all related to the shipping industry. Marinakis has also strong views about the fact that the majority of Greek shipowners choose to stay in Greece, despite the fact that there exists a less than ideal climate.

His love and respect for the history of Greece is echoed in the names of Marinakis's vessels. Many have been named after heroes of Greek history and mythology, such as Alexander the Great, Achilleas and the great strategist Miltiadis, after whom his father was named. We also have to stress out the fact that Marinakis is very quick to see opportunities and very good in making decisions on both the buy and sell side. Today, Capital ship Management lists a mixed fleet of 45 vessels and some 3.5 million dwt. including the 19 tankers of Capital Product Partners LP and the five VLCC and suezmax tankers of Crude Carriers Corp.