IAPH looks forward to welcoming all members to the IAPH Harbor Café kickoff event, which will take place online on 5 February 09.00-10.30 CET (17.00-18.30 JST). Following a welcome by IAPH managing director Patrick Verhoeven, IAPH president Jens Meier will give his opening remarks and welcome the newly-elected regional vice president for Europe, Jacques Vandermeiren (CEO of Port of Antwerp-Bruges) to offer his perspective on his new role and the challenges facing the port sector in the year ahead. The event will also include a conversation between Myriel Newerla, head of executive board office at Hamburg Port Authority, with Rolf Schumann, co-CEO of Schwarz Digits (a division of Schwarz Group focused on IT and digitalisation); the interview will focus on digital developments relevant to all ports. IAPH communications and strategy director Victor Shieh will offer an overview of the planned IAPH – Mercator webinars taking place throughout the year (also covered in this week’s Insider), as well as plans for hybrid IAPH regional Harbor Cafés covering the six global membership regions. The event will round off with a presentation of the latest plans for the IAPH 2025 World Ports Conference in Kobe, Japan by Patrick Verhoeven. Members can expect to receive a calendar invitation for the Harbor Café in their inboxes soon. Those who do not receive an invitation by the end of the week should contact IAPH coordination and support manager Fabienne Van Loo for relevant joining instructions.
