Theodore Vokos, CEO of Posidonia Exhibitions S.A., reflects on the success of Posidonia 2026, noting that the exhibition continues to grow year after year.
“As the exhibition expands, it reflects the strength of Greek shipping,” he says. “Our role is simply to showcase its scale, its influence, and its global significance. People from the shipping, seafaring, and wider maritime community embrace this event, and wherever they go abroad, they promote it as if it were their own. They all act as our ambassadors.”
Vokos also recalls two particularly challenging periods in the long history of the Posidonia exhibitions, emphasizing that both ultimately reaffirmed the value of face-to-face interaction.
“We are part of the economy of human connection, and that is what has kept this exhibition alive,” he explains. “The first challenge came in the early 2000s, when the internet emerged and many predicted that people would no longer need to travel for shipping exhibitions or business meetings. In reality, people still wanted to meet in person. Attendance returned, the exhibitions grew, and we reached where we are today.”
“The second challenge was the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, we genuinely did not know whether the exhibition would ever reopen or how it could continue. Yet when Posidonia returned in 2022, people were eager to come back, whether wearing masks or not. They wanted to shake hands, meet their partners, exchange ideas, keep up with industry developments, and learn about new technologies and trends. That is the essence of exhibitions: human contact. Even after years of Zoom meetings and teleconferences, people still want to meet one another in person.”