Date: 14 June 2022  

Global Healthcare specialist VIKAND and ABS supported a high profile reception at the US Ambassador’s residence during Posidonia 2022. 

During his speech Ambassador Tsunis, who was nominated to take over this prestigious post by President Biden in March 2022, outlined his delight at being able to host one of his first in-person receptions in celebration of Posidonia.  

Of Greek/American heritage Ambassador Tsunis praised the proud shipping heritage of the Greek nation and welcomed the guests to this well-attended event who included Alternate Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Adonis Georgiadis, Ministry Of Development & Investments, Minister Ioannis Plakiotakis, Ministry of Maritime Affairs & Insular Policy, Deputy Minister of Eleftherios Oikonomou, Minister of Citizen’s Protection, Alternate Minister Theodoros Skylakakis, Ministry of Finance and General Konstantinos Floros, Chief of Hellenic National Defense General Staff. 

During his speech Zeke Davis, VP Regional Business Development, Europe, from ABS, spoke about the history of Posidonia while also declaring this was his first visit to the biennial show which, due to COVID restrictions, was the first time it had taken place for four years.  

He also thanked the Ambassador for hosting the reception and wished him a successful posting.  

Speaking on behalf of VIKAND, Senior Vice President and General Manager Len Quist outlined that the company’s overriding philosophy was to provide cost effective healthcare solutions for the benefit of seafarers’ mental and physical well-being using the latest technology. VIKAND provides app based solutions dealing with every day medical issues and has a proactive telemedical service where vessels are contacted on a regular basis to check on crews’ health. 

He went on to add that the company is very flexible and works with its clients to provide medical and public health solutions tailored to the specific needs of their workforces. 

VIKAND recognises that seafarers have gone through an incredibly tough time during the COVID pandemic and so launched the Seafarer Human Sustainability Declaration at Nor-Shipping in April along with other key maritime stakeholders including Inmarsat, ABS, AON, and the Global Maritime Forum. The aim of the Declaration is to recognise and improve how the global maritime community meets the human sustainability needs of seafarers both today and into the future. This will be achieved by encouraging dialogue around the principles of seafarer wellbeing so that the maritime industry can develop and adopt best practices for those working at sea and their loved ones at home. 

Also present at the reception from VIKAND was Klaus Stoltenberg who was recently appointed as an Advisory Board member. Klaus’ engagement with the commercial shipping industry spans over 20 years. He was Chairman of the Deutsche Bank marine and aircraft finance division and in his capacity as a senior banker he has developed deep and strong ties with executive management within the global shipping industry. Len and Klaus were joined by Bo Larsen who is VIKAND’s VP Commercial Partnerships. 

For more information on the Declaration use the link Seafarer Human Sustainability - VIKAND Solutions