The 1963 edition of IAPH’s International Ports Conference, held in New Orleans, opened with a message from the American President, John F. Kennedy. “We welcome to our shores this group representing ports of the free world,” the president wrote. “Your efforts in the promotion of world trade make an important contribution to the improvement of living standards everywhere and to mankind’s goal of world peace. Best wishes for a successful gathering, John Kennedy.” Held May 1–4, this edition of the conference was, as JFK had hoped, a success. It attracted 138 participants from 13 countries, including new attendees from Belgium, Colombia, Israel and the United Kingdom, and it benefited from collaborations with the concurrent Mississippi Valley World Trade Conference. The conference also marked a period of astute organisational refinement for IAPH. Proceedings included the creation of a tri-regional system, comprising the Americas, Europe (including Africa and the Mediterranean) and Asia (including Oceania and the Persian Gulf). A decision was finalised that the interval between conferences would reduce from three to two years, setting in motion a biannual event schedule that continued uninterrupted for more than half a century. These key changes built on efforts towards organisational enhancement that had been underway since the 1959 Mexico edition of the conference, including the decision to have the Executive Committee meet separately to the conference to discuss the business of the association, and the creation of the Standing Committees (the precursors to today’s Technical Committees). A venue change had again delayed the IAPH conference by a year, but nonetheless the association’s upward progress remained inexorable.
