Greek shipowners lead global shipping industry recovery
On the back of a positive sentiment for the future, 2013 saw Greek shipowners placing a record number of orders estimated at 25% of the global orderbook, with shipbuilders remaining upbeat as to future newbuilding investments funded by Greek interests, Posidonia Exhibitions S.A. said in a press release.
Last year Greek shipowners committed upwards of $13bn to newbuilding orders for 275 vessels of more than 24.5m dw and increasing the dwt total on order for Greeks by 364%.
The organisers of Posidonia have confirmed that this June exhibition will play host to the most extensive participation of shipyards, marine equipment manufacturers and exhibitors covering all aspects of the maritime industry, in the event’s 48 year-long history.
“As the Greek-owned, ocean-going fleet continues to ride the wave of a dramatic expansion spearheaded by a strategic diversification drive, designed to cement its leadership position globally, the world’s top shipbuilding nations are vying for a prominent position under the spotlight at this year’s Posidonia Exhibition,” said Theodore Vokos, Project Director, Posidonia Exhibitions S.A.
Greek investment dominated the global orderbook across most vessel categories in 2013 investing $4.5bn on bulkers which topped the shopping list with 134 orders with a further $4bn destined for niche LPG and LNG builders for a combined 51 Greek-ordered vessels. The list also included 65 tankers worth $3bn and 25 container ships at $1.6bn.
“This robust Greek newbuilding orderbook underlines the shipowners’ forward looking spirit that makes them willing to spread their asset portfolio between the safe bets of traditional shipping sectors and the more investment-intensive sophisticated tonnage such as LNG and LPG carriers,” said Vokos.
“These orders reinforced the strong ties between Greek owners and Asian yards as China received 72 percent of bulker orders from Greece, South Korea secured over a third of Greek gas carrier orders with Japan also doing well in most segments,” said Vokos.
Yet, lobbying and networking with the owners of the world’s largest independent fleet worth in excess of $100bn and accounting for 15 per cent of the global total value of bulk carriers, container ships, gas carriers and tankers, is not the only reason why the world’s shipping community converges en masse to Greece every two years for Posidonia.
“Few events can match this scale of international buyers. In 2012 the stands of more than 1,870 exhibitors attracted over 18,500 buyers from 92 countries. Posidonia 2014 is the opportunity for all players in world shipping to meet and review challenges, opportunities, trends and innovations with the owners of more than 4,000 vessels approaching 260m tonnes carrying capacity,
and their executives ” added Vokos.
This year’s edition will welcome three new national pavilions, from Hong Kong - making a comeback after a ten year absence - Turkey, returning after 2006 and a total newcomer, Georgia, promoting its maritime services.
And beyond Posidonia’s regular and traditional exhibiting sectors, the oil & gas industry is determined to make a major impact with an enhanced presence of oil majors, bunkering specialists and traders and lubricants suppliers such as Saudi Aramco, Emirates National oil Company (ENOC), Chevron Marine Products, Lukoil Marine Lubricants, Gulf Oil Marine, JX NIPPON Oil and Energy Europe, KPI Bridge Oil, ECO Lubricants, Baluco SA, joined by companies Aegean Marine Petroleum, Avin Oil, Elinoil, ETEKA SA, Cyclon SA, SEKA SA and many more.
And while the organisers of Posidonia are about to hang a ‘sold out’ sign for exhibition space which is estimated to exceed 1,870 exhibitors from some 85 countries across 35,000 square metres at the Athens Metropolitan Expo for the event’s 24th edition, they are currently working hard to optimise the state-of-the-art venue’s facilities to accommodate rapidly increasing demand for conferences and seminars planned by maritime associations, publishers and exhibitors for the entire period of the show, from 2-6 June.
In this regard the organisers are building additional seminar rooms to meet demand for presentations and conference slots.
“Ever since we introduced the Posidonia Conferences and Seminars Programme, we have seen appetite for such events grow exponentially and we are delighted with the strong demand for the 2014 edition. We are doing everything in our power to fit as many events as possible and the current schedule of our programme is already available on our website for registrations” said Vokos.