Posidonia formally opens on Monday
The four-year wait is over and Posidonia, the world-leading shipping fair, is back on as of Monday, bigger than ever, with its official launch in the evening at the Athens Metropolitan Expo center next to Athens International Airport.
After the cancellation of the 2020 edition due to the pandemic, the biennial event returns this week (June 6-10) with 1,929 exhibitors from 88 countries, 24 national pavilions, 10 ministerial delegations from abroad, and 68 conferences and seminars by international organizations and companies from 18 countries, according to Posidonia Exhibitions Managing Director Theodore Vokos. “Next time we will need additional exhibition halls,” he told a press conference on Thursday.
The fair will formally be launched at 6 p.m. on Monday. Before the official opening, European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean will hold a press briefing.
Preceding the fair was the Posidonia Games over the weekend, starting with the 10th version of the Posidonia Cup, co-organized with the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club on Friday along the Attica coast. Winning this 21.3-sea mile, one-day sailing event that featured 45 crews and some 500 shipping professionals was Sugar, representing the Angelicoussis Group, in the Performance category, Daphne’s Smile, representing Steamship Mutual, in Standard, and Larne, representing the Baltic Exchange, in Classic.
The weekend also saw the Posidonia Shipsoccer Tournament, the Posidonia Golf Tournament, the Posidonia Running Event and the new Posidonia 3×3 Basketball, in which almost 3,000 industry professionals took part. Organizers said proceeds from these events will be donated to a range of charities and NGOs.
Posidonia 2022 supports a number of shipping community and organization initiatives such as the Hellenic Institute of Marine Technology, Sailors’ Society, Adopt a Ship, the Public Benefit Organization of the City of Piraeus, the Chatzikiriakeio Foundation, YES Forum, Isalos.net, Mercy Ships, Boroume, Doctors Without Borders, the Benaki Museum and many more.
The event is organized under the auspices of the Maritime Affairs and Island Policy Ministry, the Union of Greek Shipowners and the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping, with the support of the City of Piraeus and the Greek Shipping Cooperation Committee.
