Athens: The record Asian participation at this year's Posidonia exhibition, to be held in Athens June 2-6, reflects the region's growing relations with the Greek maritime industry. Over 300 Asian exhibitors have confirmed their presence, nearly three times the number that attended the 2000 event. A third of them will come from China and 62 from Japan, with Singapore and Korea together accounting for 50% of Asia's total Posidonia 2008 exhibitor participation, this is though to be the biggest show services from companies in this region outside the region.
'The credit crunch in the USA has had little effect on an industry that draws its strength from the booming BRIC economies [Brazil, Russia, India and China] and far eastern and Asian markets where the bulk of shipbuilding activity is concentrated,' said Nana Michael, md, Posidonia SA. 'We are also unique because the major shipbuilders from Asia deploy stand alone pavilions on the Posidonia floor as opposed to their policy of joining their respective national pavilion in the other major international shows,' she added.
In addition to an increase from participating companies from established maritime nations, companies from the Central American Republic of Honduras, Iceland, Luxemburg and Mongolia are making their Posidonia debut this year reiterating the event's status as the world's most international shipping trade fair. New national pavilions include Romania, Argentina, Sweden and Honduras.
The floor exhibition space has grown in line with stronger exhibitor demand with a total of 27,500sq mtr reserved for Posidonia 2008, the biggest in the biennial event's history. [23/04/08]
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