It could be said that the IAPH World Ports Conference is older than the association itself. In the autumn of 1951, Gaku Matsumoto approached the mayor of Kobe with the idea of fulfilling a goal that he’d cherished since founding the Ports and Harbours Association of Japan three decades earlier: he wanted Japan to host the world’s first ever international port conference. Expressions of interest were sought from the American Association of Port Authorities in Washington, and from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and the challenging work of budgeting for the event began. Invites were dispatched to those countries with regular shipping routes to Japan; embassies were contacted to invite wider participation. Ultimately, six countries from Asia and fifteen representatives from various ports in the United States joined observers from sixteen other countries at the event, held in 1952. It became clear that East Asian delegates were in favour of creating a new international association and that delegates from Los Angeles would be open to hosting a second conference. On the morning of 9 October, in the lobby of the Oriental Hotel, Japanese and American participants discussed a motion containing three proposals: to create a new, permanent international association for ports around the world; with a permanent organisation, entrusted to the Ports and Harbours Association of Japan; and with a second port conference to be held in Los Angeles. These three resolutions were passed unanimously. The International Association of Ports and Harbors and the World Ports Conference would soon become a reality.
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