The Columbia Group got the Posidonia fortnight off to a strong start with a glittering reception for over 260 guests at the Four Seasons, Astir Palace Hotel in Athens.
Welcoming guests from the Greek shipowning and operating sectors as well as from the international maritime community, Columbia used the occasion to outline the wealth of high quality services it currently offers the international maritime sphere, and introduce the very exciting SmartSea initiative, powered by Sita, the driving force behind the seamless digitalisation of the global aviation industry, and where Columbia is an anchor maritime client.
Addressing guests at the event, Mark OâNeil, Columbia Group President and CEO, paid tribute to the important Greek market saying that Greek shipowners and operators were opening up to the importance of collaboration, where collaboration brings real value.
âWe donât want to just manage your ships, we want to manage our partnerships. If there is one thing which distinguishes this fantastic company from any other ship management company out there, it is the ability to really forge strong partnerships. It is about the value of these partnerships that matters and that is what the Greek market is opening up to. Not to third party ship management but to real collaboration with real partnerships that drives optimisation where one plus one equals three or four and that is what we are all about,â he said.
âOnly through this partnership can one really work together as a team with our clients and we want that teamwork, those partnerships and those common goals, and we want those common successes. We want common ownership as if they were our own vessels. But as importantly, we want to share the upsides and the downsides,â he emphasised.
