Posidonia has become the latest casualty of the coronavirus pandemic, with organisers announcing on Tuesday they are pushing back what is arguably the world's biggest shipping event to October.
Organisers said in a statement the biennial jamboree was postponed from early June to now start on 26 October.
Posidonia’s flagship conference, the TradeWinds Shipowners Forum, will now likely take place on 27 October, a Tuesday. The venue, the Athens Metropolitan Expo, remains unchanged. All other peripheral sports events and conferences are expected to go ahead at the new date.
"Given the uncertainty currently surrounding our original dates, the international character of Posidonia and the pressure our exhibitors and visitors are under in actioning now their travel and logistical arrangements, as well as the shipment of their exhibits, we concluded that we could not delay this decision any longer," the organisers said.
Payments by exhibitors and other participants that were due by the end of February have also been postponed to the end of June, said Theodore Vokos, managing director of Posidonia Exhibitions.
The postponement took place after consultation with Posidonia’s supporting organisations, who confirmed their agreement and support for the new October dates, according to Vokos.
Earlier on 17 March, another shipping event was officially postponed - Marine Money Cyprus, which organisers pushed back to 21 October.
These are just the latest in a stream of events that have fallen victim to the epidemic.
Seatrade earlier this week said it would postpone its annual Cruise Global conference in Miami, to an as yet unidentified date. Singapore Iron Ore Week was also cancelled.
The postponements create a very crowded field of events in the second half of the year. It is characteristic for how squeezed organisers are for suitable dates that Posidonia will coincide with the Greek national holiday of 28 October, which marks the country’s entry into World War II.
The end-of-year calendar gets so crammed that some conference planners may have to reschedule yet again. Capital Link said last week it was postponing two of its events in Shanghai and Tokyo, which were originally to take place in May, to the end of October. Its Annual Japan Maritime Forum, scheduled for 27 October, now coincides with Posidonia.
