Posidonia 2024 attracted the most influential shipping professionals from Greece along with others from the international shipping community, as well as major companies and organisations active in all sectors of the industry.
We attended the opening ceremony of Posidonia with our Director of UK Maritime Customer Services, Lars Lippuner, HM Ambassador to Greece, Matthew Lodge and Department for Business and Trade Country Director for Trade and Investment, Evita Souri. The opening day provided a great opportunity to meet with over 15 UK companies at the UK Pavilion who were showcasing their products from a UK export perspective.
The UK Shipping Concierge was a sponsor at the Maritime London and British High Commission event; “Securing your Ships from External Disruptions”. There were two insightful panels of experts who engaged in lively topical debate with the first panel focussing on the commercial implications of global trade disruption as a consequence of the issues facing key shipping routes and how industry can work together to ensure the safety of seafarers and vessels. The second panel explored how decarbonisation will alter the market dynamics and what practical steps can be taken.
Directly after the event, a reception was hosted by the UK Ambassador to Greece which was well attended by various industry leaders, policymakers, and maritime professionals. Keynote speeches were delivered by Matthew Lodge and Lord Jeffrey Mountevans, the Honorary President of Maritime London. This provided us with an excellent opportunity to network and engage with the many guests.
During Posidonia, Lars was introduced to Red Ensign Group (REG) senior officials from the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar and discussed how the UK and Overseas Territories can collaborate and work together with a view to attend future REG conferences.
Later in the week, the UK Shipping Concierge held a meeting with the British Embassy and the Department for Transport to discuss mutual policy interests and development of future memorandum of understanding (MOU) between UK and Greece.
Outside of the week’s exhibition and conferences, the UK Shipping Concierge had the opportunity to be part of networking events with industry associations and the team were able to network with a variety of ship financiers and law firms. We also had the opportunity to hold productive meetings with shipping companies, maritime professional business services and shipping associations, including the Union of Greek Shipowners to discuss the extensive UK maritime offer.
We were able to establish new relationships with key contacts within the market and we look forward to supporting them with their UK endeavours in the near future.
