Cyprus has cancelled this year’s edition of its biggest maritime event, citing lingering worldwide problems and concerns with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The biennial event, which was scheduled to take place next month, will be pushed back to early October 2022.
Stakeholders including the Mediterranean nation’s government and its shipping organisations said in a press release on Tuesday that they have taken “the difficult decision” to reschedule the conference.
Despite a “considerable improvement” of the epidemiological situation in the country itself, the impact of Covid-19 in other nations, as well as health protocols for indoor gatherings would reduce capacity and compromise the event's “fundamental character and aims”.
Maritime Cyprus is renowned for the schmoozing opportunities it offers during various gatherings and parties under the mild October evening temperatures of the Limassol riviera.
“We believe that is essential for us to preserve the quality and philosophy of the conference by waiting a year,” Vassilios Demetriades, Cyprus’s deputy minister in charge of shipping, said.
Cyprus, Europe’s biggest ship-management hub, was supposed to use this year's event as a platform to unveil a long-term strategy to further promote itself as a shipping location.
Demetriades said that announcement will go ahead “in due course”, regardless of the postponement of Maritime Cyprus.
All well with Posidonia 2022
After an almost total shutdown of physical activity that forced organisers to seek surrogate online solutions, shipping conferences started resuming in 2021.
However, the size of the events and the contact frequency they offer still fall short of usual standards.
The postponement of Cyprus Maritime to 2022 will see it fall in the same year as Posidonia, a far larger event in neighbouring Greece that is scheduled to take place in June.
Preparations for Posidonia 2022 are “in full swing”, organisers said in an update released on 9 September.
About 80% of Posidonia exhibition space has already been reserved and applications for stands flow in “on a daily basis”, they said.
“After almost two years of virtual engagement, the maritime industry wants to again meet in person,” Posidonia managing director Theodore Vokos said.
