IAPH co-organised Pan-African ports conference

The 2024 Pan African Ports Cooperation Conference took place Thursday and Friday last week in Libreville, Gabon. The event was organised jointly by IAPH and the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA). It included in-person interventions by IAPH director od strategy and communications Victor Shieh, Manfred Lebmeier of Hamburg Port Authority on the IAPH Environmental Ship Index, Luisa Antonia Rodriguez Ortega of UNCTAD on their Smart Sustainable Ports project with three African port authorities, and by Mark Wootton of Royal Haskoning DHV, who heads up the SSATP/World Bank project on the status of digitalisation of ports on the African continent. The ceremonial opening included a prime ministerial address, delivered in person. For the first time, many members who had attended IAPH Europe-Africa Harbor Café sessions in the past two years were finally able to meet colleagues from the IAPH delegation in person. Recorded interventions were delivered by IAPH president Jens Meier, Jarle Hauge of the Norwegian Coastal Administration, as well as senior representatives of UNCTAD, Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Port of Rotterdam. African delegates were presented with many of the tools developed by IAPH over the past two years in partnership with IMO, World Bank, UNCTAD, World Customs Organization and other partners. These tools can immediately be used to further advance their ports in digitalisation, resilience and energy transition.