Athens becomes the shipping world’s meeting point during Posidonia week. With Greek owners, global operators, yards, OEMs, class, finance, insurers, and maritime tech all in one place, it is a strong venue for relationship building, deal pipeline, and getting a clearer read on where fleet investment and regulation are heading next.
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Posidonia 2026 — Event Snapshot
Dates
June 1 to 5, 2026
City and venue
Metropolitan Expo, Athens, Greece (within the Athens International Airport complex)
Opening ceremony
June 1, 2026 (by invitation only)
Exhibition opening hours
Mon, Jun 1: 18:30 to 21:00
Tue, Jun 2: 10:30 to 19:00
Wed, Jun 3: 10:30 to 19:00
Thu, Jun 4: 10:30 to 19:00
Fri, Jun 5: 10:30 to 17:00
Who attends
Shipowners and operators, shipyards, equipment and technology providers, class, brokers, finance and insurance, port and service partners
Show floor focus
Shipping and maritime services across newbuild and retrofit, equipment, digital and automation, emissions and compliance, safety, operations, and supply chain services
Week features
Exhibition plus conferences and seminars, with additional Posidonia week events scheduled around the show dates
Tip: Staying near the airport favors early starts at the venue. Staying in central Athens favors dinners and meetings, with transit time planned in.
How Posidonia week works in practice
The show floor is the anchor, but the real value is the density of meetings. Owners, operators, OEMs, class, finance, insurers,
and maritime services compress a year of relationship management into one week in Athens.
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Recent scale (Posidonia 2024 record figures)
Useful as a benchmark for the 2026 cycle
2,038
exhibiting companies
32,527
visitors
130
countries and territories
23
national pavilions
Best use: treat it like a pipeline week. Arrive with a meeting list, a shortlist of vendor categories,
and clear follow up owners inside your team.
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A simple meeting plan that works
Keep it tight, measurable, and easy to execute
Pick two priorities (example: emissions compliance and fleet digital performance).
Assign one owner per priority who collects notes and confirms next steps.
Shortlist 10 booths (OEMs, tech, class, fuel pathway, finance, insurance) and book meetings early.
Use one scorecard for every meeting: timeline, integration burden, ROI driver, references, pricing model.
Leave with actions (pilot scope, decision date, who signs, what data is required).
The show hours start late morning most days. That leaves mornings for off site meetings and evenings for relationship dinners.
What makes Posidonia week different
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Owner access and decision density
Greece is positioned as home to the world’s largest merchant fleet, and Posidonia is built to connect suppliers and partners
directly with shipowner decision makers and their technical teams.
Bring
One page capability and where you fit on a vessel
A realistic implementation timeline with dependencies
Two reference projects with measurable outcomes
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Everything in one supply chain loop
The floor covers OEM hardware, shipyard capability, class and compliance, plus finance and insurance.
That lets you validate a solution end to end rather than in isolation.
Ask early
Approval path and documentation needed
Cyber and data handling expectations
Warranty, spares, and service response model
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Decarbonization and compliance realism
Posidonia is strong for practical compliance conversations because owners, class, and solution providers are in the same corridor.
You can pressure test timelines, capex, and operational burden in one visit.
Useful comparison points
Retrofit versus newbuild decision thresholds
Fuel readiness and onboard space constraints
Monitoring, reporting, and verification workload
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International scale with national pavilions
National pavilions and broad international attendance make it efficient to compare regions and supplier ecosystems without chasing meetings across continents.
Best approach
Pick 2 pavilion zones to focus on per day
Shortlist vendors, then do deeper meetings off peak
Capture specs and follow up owners on the spot
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Registration and entry
Visitor access is free of charge, but visitors must have a valid badge and are encouraged to register online in advance to speed entry.
Badges can be printed onsite using the barcode received during registration.
Fast entry checklist
Register online before arrival
Bring your registration barcode on your phone or printed
Carry a business card for quick verification if needed
Keep a photo ID accessible
Timing tip
Arrive early on your first day to avoid badge printing queues
Use show mornings for off site meetings when halls open at 10:30 most days
Block the final afternoon for follow ups before departures
Always confirm your final schedule on the official programme pages closer to the event.
Metropolitan Expo is in the Athens airport zone. Plan transport like an airport-area venue day, then choose your hotel based on whether your priority is
show-floor speed or dinner-and-meetings convenience.
Best planning move: decide if you want to optimize for venue access (airport area) or for evenings (central Athens).
The venue setup that matters
Metropolitan Expo sits next to Athens International Airport.
Posidonia typically provides shuttle support between the Airport transport hub and the venue.
Show hours often start later in the morning, which leaves room for offsite meetings.
If you are staying in the city, avoid bouncing back and forth. Stack your day into one venue trip, then return to Athens for meetings and dinners.
🧭 Essentials
What to carry
Registration barcode on your phone for badge printing
One-page brief covering fleet, timeline, constraints, and approvals
Comfortable shoes and a light layer for indoor halls
Meeting notes worth capturing
What they changed first and what took longest
What approvals or documentation were required
What the next step is and who owns it
🚇 Getting to Metropolitan Expo
Airport station transfer point
Metro Line 3 (blue) runs to Athens Airport.
The suburban rail line also connects to the Airport station.
From the Airport station area, use the event shuttle bus to reach Metropolitan Expo.
Treat the Airport station as your fixed transfer point. It simplifies routing for teams and reduces day-to-day variability.
Taxi routing that stays sane
If you stay central, plan one consolidated venue trip per day.
Use mornings for offsite meetings near your hotel, then go to the venue closer to opening.
After the halls, return to Athens for dinners and follow ups rather than adding extra hops.
You will usually get more value from an on-time dinner meeting than from squeezing in an extra booth visit.
Driving setup for groups
The venue is reached via the Attiki Odos airport expressway network.
For groups, a single drop window and a single pickup window keeps schedules cleaner.
Agree on a pickup point and time window in advance so the team does not fragment.
Predictable movement beats chasing the fastest route during a high-meeting week.
Shuttle schedules are typically published closer to the event. If you plan around the Airport station transfer point, you can adjust easily when the timing is posted.
🏨 Hotel zones that fit Posidonia week
Airport area
Fast venue access and easier early starts
Works well for booth-heavy agendas
Quieter evenings and fewer dinner hosting options
Central Athens
Best for dinners, client meetings, and follow ups
More options for short, ad hoc meetings
Requires a deliberate transport plan to the venue
Coastal south
Good for longer relationship dinners in a quieter setting
Works well for hosting focused meetings
Longer transfers to the venue, so plan one venue trip per day
Many teams split coverage: one person staying near the venue for floor time, and one staying in Athens for evening meetings.
🍴 Food and meeting-friendly areas
Areas that work well for business dinners
Kolonaki for quieter tables and a polished setting
Syntagma area for convenience and easy logistics
Glyfada for longer dinners and relationship hosting
Two rules that keep dinners productive
Book ahead during Posidonia week, especially for groups
Choose a place where you can hear each other
Close the dinner by agreeing the next step, who owns it, and a date to send or review the needed document.
Posidonia 2026 is best approached like a working week, not a single exhibition day. If you arrive with a tight meeting list, a clear shortlist of priorities, and owners for follow up actions, you can leave Athens with real momentum on partners, retrofit choices, compliance planning, and commercial opportunities that would otherwise take months to schedule one by one.
