Roundup: Major maritime show ends in Greece, industry stakeholders look ahead to forge growth strategy

The curtains of the Posidonia 2016, the largest and most prestigious maritime exhibition internationally, closed on Friday in Athens, with Greek organizers celebrating a record breaking event and EU officials and global shipping industry major stakeholders looking ahead to forge a growth strategy.

Over the past five days, over 22,000 maritime industry professionals visited the Athens Metropolitan Expo next to the Athens airport to meet, network and do business with more than 1,800 exhibitors from 90 countries and regions deployed across 40,000 square meters.

"Posidonia 2016 has managed to set new records in floor space, number of conferences and seminars as well as visitor numbers showcasing the unrivalled appeal the event enjoys amongst the world's maritime community," Theodore Vokos, Executive Director of Posidonia Exhibitions, was quoted as saying in a statement.

The biannual exhibition hosted in Greece over the past five decades under the auspices of the Greek shipping community offers a great opportunity to exchange views on the challenges and developments in the maritime business.

"Understanding the business well is really one of the core enablers for the creation of sound policies," European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc said on Friday during the closing press conference of the Union of Greek Ship owners (UGS).

The EU official reassured that the European Commission does not intend to change the existing guidelines regarding the tonnage taxation of shipping activities for Greece and other EU member states and outlined the Commission's priorities in the shipping sector.

Emphasis will be put on environmental protection and safety and security issues, as well as technological advances and the creation of a more business friendly environment for further investments in the field across Europe, Bulc said.

The vision is to create a strong single European transport and maritime area with no customs, she explained.

"We want to maintain our leadership in the global maritime industry. We have to stay competitive and the core challenge is to understand where we stand today, what we need to strengthen and how we can help this segment to flourish and stay in the leading position globally because being a global leader means that you are the one who drives the growth, you are the one who creates employment opportunities and the development of the sector," she was quoted as saying in a statement.

"The other thing in order to really stay a strong global actor is connectivity," the Commissioner added.

"We already know that if you are not connected you are not in the business so the Commission will cooperate really well with key stakeholders to identify their most important growing markets and further develop partnership agreements like we already do in other modes -- so far in maritime we have it with China -- but there is great opportunity of expanding partnerships in other countries as well," she stressed.

For his part, Union of Greek Ship owners President Theodore Veniamis referred to the serious and enduring crisis shipping worldwide is facing in recent years and the resilience it has shown, expressing optimism for the future.

"A weak freight market, which is the result of oversupply of tonnage capacity and reduction of cargo volumes due to decreased global trade, coupled with lending and financing difficulties hamper the smooth operation of shipping companies," he noted.

Political and economic instability in Greece cast a darker shadow in particular in Greek shipping which for decades holds a protagonist role internationally.

Currently, the Greek-owned fleet comprises 4,585 ships, representing 19,63 percent of the global deadweight tonnage.

"Against all odds, Greek shipping showed its resilience and I am convinced that it will emerge once again victorious," Veniamis said. Endit