Athens: This time in four weeks there’ll be plenty of sore and sleepy heads as the world’s most famous shipping show begins to wind down.
It is Posidonia time once again, the global shipowner gathering that comes around every other June and brings the shipping world to a standstill. This year’s show will be the largest in its 48-year history, some 4% larger than the 2012 edition. Aside from the exhibition and various conferences and seminars, Posidonia is renowned for its myriad parties.
Exhibitor numbers this year are at a record high of over 1,850 exhibitors from 93 countries and territories, which is also an all time record. These records have been marked by the first-time participation of Georgia with its own national pavilion and the return of the national pavilions of Turkey and Hong Kong following a brief absence. The organisers are anticipating around 18,500 visitors to the exhibition, which is likely to be opened by the Greek prime minister.
Theodore Vokos, executive director of Posidonia Exhibitions, notes that the show is happening just as the Greek owners are in mid-charge of a massive fleet expansion phase.
“The Greek-owned, ocean-going fleet continues to ride the wave of a dramatic expansion spearheaded by a strategic diversification drive designed to cement its leadership position globally,” Vokos says, noting an interesting shift by some local owners into offshore.
In 2013 the global orderbook was dominated by Greek investments across most vessel categories with $4.5bn going for bulker orders, $4bn for niche LPG and LNG builders and a further $4.6bn assigned for tankers and containerships. Another $480m has been invested in the offshore market, and the total spend in this sector could reach $1.5bn.
“This robust activity,” says Vokos, “is designed to spread their asset portfolio between the safe bets of traditional shipping sectors and the more investment-intensive sophisticated tonnage such as LNG and LPG carriers, mitigating risks from a potential combination of vessel oversupply and a slowdown in demand for sea transportation services.”
Maritime CEO is one of the official media titles at the world’s most talked about shipping show and the magazine has come up with a very special Posidonia-themed issue to ensure it’ll be the most talked about publication at the Athens show. 


Expect to read interviews with a number of Greek owners plus how they are getting capital together from our high profile regular finance columnist, Dagfinn Lunde. 
Greek owners also make up a sizeable chunk of our inaugural Rich List. We have teamed up with VesselsValue.com to bring readers the Top 50 shipowners worldwide based on owned tonnage. 


Towards the back of the magazine, in our growing lifestyle section aimed at the busy maritime executive, we carry a useful guide on dos and don’ts at the show. There’s also a Greek island-hopping travel special while our brand new wine column shows there’s more to this Mediterranean nation than Retsina.


For more details on advertising in this special edition of Maritime CEO magazine, contact Helen Ong-Rajah: helen@asiashippingmedia.com. [08/05/14]
