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I love to say I hate it, but really I love it”. Thus spoke one shipping veteran as he prepared for Posidonia which returns to the maritime calendar in early June. A covid-enforced break saw the 2020 edition postponed, but shipping is ready to party again. The usually biannual gathering in Athens has always been one of the highlights of the shipping calendar and this year has all the makings of a hugely memorable event. Shipping has seen plenty of money made in the past couple of years, and many will be heading to Greece looking to celebrate. Four years ago, the German shipping market was feeling pretty sorry for itself, but by all accounts, a large contingent will be heading to Greece from Hamburg to celebrate the stunning turnaround in fortunes those who stuck with the container market have enjoyed. The frenzied sale and purchase activity we have witnessed this year across all sectors can be expected to get a Posidonia-induced boost simply because bringing all these shipping players, large and small, together seems to engender a mood for deal-making - if you didn’t do a deal whilst you were down there, why did you bother going? Lethargy and ambivalence towards Posidonia are usually the preserve of the shipbrokers who witnessed dawn breaking as they left the Arion bar in the Astir Palace once too often. The ‘quick night cap’ in the Arion after a round of parties and dinner was a step into a testosterone-fuelled world where rivalries were temporarily put aside in an apparent celebration of the joys of being part of such a great industry. And next day, nobody remembered what had been said in any case. Enjoy it, you have earned the right to party This year’s Posidonia will possibly have a different vibe. The Astir Palace, for decades the focal point of the event and the ‘must stay’ venue is now the Four Seasons. Inevitably, that has seen it go decidedly upmarket with prices to match, stretching even shipping hospitality budgets. Some will bemoan the loss of their week on the coast in Vouliagmeni, but Athens has reinvented itself since Greece’s economic crisis over a decade ago and plenty of vibrant new venues have emerged which avoid the long haul out to the suburbs. After more than two years of restrictions, the opportunity to get together is eagerly awaited. A large gathering held in Copenhagen in late May was primarily led by the dry bulk chartering community, but by all accounts was a huge success. The Greek tradition of generous hospitality together with booming markets and the fact that Greece remains the spiritual home of the modern shipping industry should see Posidonia surpass that. There will no doubt be a lower turnout than usual from some of the Asian countries still under lockdown and travel restrictions, but Chinese companies are sure to have their European representatives out in force whilst this was never really an event that had mass appeal to the Hong Kong shipping community. There is no denying that Posidonia will be a celebration, a coming-out party after two years where this most sociable of industries has had limited exposure to personal contact, the lifeblood of the relationships around which so much revolves. On everyone’s mind will be the fact that a mere 700 miles to the north, the horrors of war continue to rage in Ukraine whilst China, the dynamo behind so much of shipping’s growth, endures continued disruption. Both have huge implications for shipping but they should not dampen the spirits of the industry coming together once again. Enjoy it, you have earned the right to party.

Celebrate in shipping’s spiritual home

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