Guide to Posidonia

VISITORS to the biennial Posidonia International Shipping Exhibition will need a comfortable pair of shoes and a strong constitution. It promises to be bigger and better than ever. Not wishing to miss out on international millennium celebrations, Posidonia 2000 will this year salute four thousand years of Greek maritime trading.

Ancient records show the Hellenic merchant fleet was already trading throughout the Mediterranean in 2000 BC. The strength of Greek shipping has grown out of this natural talent and love of ships stretching back over four thousand years.

Today, Greek shipowners control the world's largest merchant fleet. Their combined 145 million-ton fleet is made up of over 3,500 vessels, involved internationally in the cargo, cruise and passenger trades, and accounting for sixteen per cent of world tonnage. At the end of 1999, Greek owners had orders with shipyards around the world for over 230 new buildings, worth $8.5 billion.

The key role that Greece plays in world shipping, and the business opportunities that arise at Posidonia, draws representatives like a magnet from the global shipping community to trade, to party and to network.

As a backdrop to the social events and the traditional Greek hospitality enjoyed by all at Posidonia, there will be two main, official events - the exhibition itself, spreading over three floors at the newly refurbished Piraeus Exhibition Centre just off the Akti Miaouli, and the Posidonia congress.

The exhibition will feature stands from more than seventy countries. Over twenty thousand visitors are expected. For the first time there will be national stands from Russia, Liberia and Turkey, and the Hong Kong Port and Maritime Board has taken its first stand at the exhibition.

The Posidonia Congress will be held on Friday June 2 at Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall, and will be chaired by John C Lyras, president of the Union of Greek Shipowners. Speakers will include Bill O'Neil of IMO, Frederick Chavalit Tsao of Intercargo and IMC Pan Asia Alliance Co, and Loyola de Palacio, vice-president of the European Commission.

How to survive Posidonia

Seasoned Posidoniagoers tend to be pretty smug when it comes to telling first-timers what to do and where to go in Athens and Piraeus. But brook no nonsense. There are some inalienable guidelines to follow.

  1. Length of stay. Tack on a holiday to the Greek islands either before or after Posidonia, or don't tack on one at all. Either go out a week before the exhibition, or a week after, or both. Or go in July instead, for a cleansing change.
  2. Location of stay. Either stay in a hotel in Athens, or in Piraeus, or in the middle of the two. You will be equally near the exhibition centre, all official and unofficial bunfights, and the Greek islands. Brag about your facilities, and the unbelievably low price you are paying.
  3. Social etiquette. Always take invitations to parties, or else turn up without them, particularly if you don't have any.
  4. Clothing. You are advised to wear clothes. Summer frocks for the ladies, short-sleeved shirts for the men. Cornish pasties may be worn on the feet under a good trouser.
  5. Finding your way about the city. Ask a man.
  6. Time-keeping. Mediterranean.
  7. Airport transfers. There are two airports in Athens, one international and one domestic. Whichever one you need, you will be taken to the other. Be prepared for a high-speed taxi shuttle between the two at breakneck speed. Travelling times between the two airports are in inverse proportion to the amount of time you have to catch your flight.
  8. Smoking. Compulsory in most restaurants.
  9. Taxis. Yellow, usually with a wheel at each corner. Most journeys will require two cabs, even for small parties, as you are almost certain to cross a line of social, political or familial demarcation.
  10. Eating out. Listen to recommendations, but be prepared to go where your taxi driver insists on taking you and where he has a special deal with three, four or five brothers. (Above five is tax-deductible).
  11. Best tax-free bargains. Turkish delight, with dark bits. Plus, if you live in Europe, you should go for the full bifta on duty-free tobaccos and spirits, on the basis that you didn't know Greece was in the EC.
  12. General. Remain calm. Greece is a beautiful country full of warm, friendly people.