Capt. Ebenezer Afadzi joined Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority(GPHA) 18 years ago as a Pilot. Prior to joining GPHA, he worked as a Navigation Officer with the Iranian Shipping Lines -Iran, Fortuna Overseas Shipping Lines- Greece, Pacific International Lines- Singapore and Black Star lines, Ghana. Since joining GPHA as a pilot, he has risen through the ranks of responsibility from Pilot to Chief Pilot (port of Takoradi), Harbour Master (port of Takoradi), Harbour Master (Tema port) and is currently the Director of Port, Takoradi. Captain Afadzi holds a Class B Certificate in Hydrography from International Maritime Academy in Trieste, Italy and Master Mariner Certificate from the Ghana Maritime University.

John is currently a Vice President with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association. He is well known for his work with employers where he designed and implemented many successful human resource and health and safety programs in the municipal, aviation, manufacturing and marine industries. John is responsible for providing leadership and direction of the Maritime Employers Association training, safety and recruitment systems for members and their employees.

John is a Director on the Board of the Canadian Centre of Occupational Health & Safety and sits on the Board of the National Maritime Safety Association. He is a member of the International Safety Panel and has been the Chair of the Board of WorkSafeBC for two years.

Jan Boermans is Regional HSE Director Europe and Russia for global terminal operator DP World, a position he has held for nearly 10 years. Jan has close to 20 years' experience in health and safety management, having previously spent 9 years as Regional H&S Manager for Amcor PET Packaging. A long-time member of ISP, Jan assumed the position of ISP Chair in June 2014.

Günther Bonz has been the president of FEPORT since 2011, joining from Eurogate where he was the executive director. Graduating in Law, he joined the department of Law & Urban planning in 1984. Since then he has worked for the Senate Office for The Public Administration and The Ministry for Economic and Transport and Agricultural Affairs. Here he became Head of EU- and Free Port Affairs before moving on to Head of the Senator Office and then Deputy Head of the Central Administration. In 1999 he Head of the Department for Economic and Agricultural Affairs where he worked as the Project Co-ordinator for Airbus A 380.

Bill Brassington is an independent safety and security consultant with over 15 years’ experience in the container industry, including time with P&O Containers and GE SeaCo Services. He is an active member of the ISO’s Technical Committee 104 (freight containers) where he now chairs the Sub-committee on special containers. He also attends the IMO DSC Sub-committee as an NGO technical expert and regularly participates in working groups involved with container safety and security. For the last six years Bill has provided consultancy to the container industry, covering not only the safety and security of the container, but also the cargoes carried. He is the author of the research study “Safety in the supply chain in relation to packing of containers” published by the ILO in 2011 and is currently editing the “Code of practice for packing cargo transport units (CTUs)” for the IMO, ILO and UNECE.

Martijn Breuer represents the KRVE - the Royal boatmen association Rotterdam and ShoreTension. As a mooring professional, Martijn is 28 years a member of the mooring association. 9 years ago, elected as one of the board members of the KRVE and responsible for the mooring consultancy and offshore divisions. In 2014 Martijn adopted the role of managing directors of ShoreTension. As a member of the core team Nautical Risk Assessments, Martijn works closely together with the Rotterdam Port authorities on a weekly basis. His schooling background is related to inland shipping, engineering and auditing – a combination which is matching the niche market of professional mooring in many ways.

Richard Brough started his career in 1969 with the Merchant Navy, culminating in command level. After 20 years at sea, he came ashore and worked in various port and stevedoring management positions until 2004, when he established his own port and logistics consultancy. From 2008-2011 he also launched, ran and sold UK Port Services Ltd. Richard provides ICHCA International’s Technical Advisor service and is deeply involved in the association’s work with various international agencies and regulatory bodies. 

Steve Cameron was introduced to the transport of perishable products at the age of 17 when he trained at sea as a navigator and cargo officer on conventional reefer vessels carrying frozen and chilled cargoes. He was part of the management team that founded and successfully ran O.T. Africa Line for 20 years where he led the development of their reefer business. He started his own consultancy in 2001 providing business development services in the maritime sector and African trades and training for ports, shipping lines and logistics providers. Steve has worked on projects involving 17 African countries, provides intercultural African Country briefings and is Vice Chairman of the Business Council for Africa, Trustee of the Africa Centre London and an Ambassador for the Microloan Foundation.

Experienced manager in both big business and start up companies, Jody has worked for Maersk Line, Kuehne & Nagel and he has experience from 3 start-up companies. Jody has 16 years’ experience in the container shipping market.

Rafael Company is Environmental, Chemical and Biology Senior by the University of Valencia (1995). He has a large experience as responsible for the Environmental, Safety and Security International Projects on European Ports. Furthermore, he did a Master on Environmental Sciences degree specialised on Chemical Engineering Rafael is involved in several European Projects since 2003 when he joined to the Port of Valencia, coordinating the assigned activities in different projects mainly related to environmental protection and port security as well as creating different port networks. In this way, he participates as speaker in International Forums, Congresses and Conferences around the world. Currently, Rafael is security project manager at the Valenciaport Foundation, a R+D area of Valenciaport. Moreover, Rafael is General Secretary and Technical Director of the European Economic Association EUROPHAR, a group formed by Port Authorities, Institutions and private organizations. Last but not least, Rafael is the SAURON project coordinator.

Wouter de Gier is a senior leader with a strong HSSE functional background. He currently leads the global safety and environment team in APM Terminals. He has worked in various roles in the upstream oil and gas industry before he joined Maersk in 2010.

Erik de Neef is currently the Chairman/CEO of the Royal Boatmen’s Association “De Eendracht”. Erik has experience as the Chairman of the Dutch Boatmen’s Association as well as a Treasurer at the European Boatmen’s Association (EBA) and International Boatmen’s Association (IBLA).

Jorge Martín is a MBA Industrial Euro engineer with over 25 years experience in the shipping/ports industry, career developed within different technical and logistics fields: procurement, fleet management, facilities and equipment maintenance & repair, quality assurance, security, HSE, due diligence, site audits, etc. He has worked for both domestic and global companies such as Noatum Ports, AP Moller group and today for TiL where he is in charge of the corporate HSSE function across the global portfolio. Before that he had the opportunity of getting his hands dirty with first hand experience at the pier and the yard for quite some years, developing green field projects and also running the ‘day to day’ of existing terminals. Regular speaker at international conferences and forum as well as a frequent article producer among prestigious magazines.

Elmo has his educational background in Industrial Product Engineering. He has worked for worked for B2C as well as B2B business, both Multinationals and start-ups. Elmo gained a lot of his experience during his 9 years at Philips Research where he focused on product innovation before moving into Product Management and Marketing Roles. Today Elmo works at Cordstrap, the global leader in cargo securing solutions and is responsible for Cordstrap's lashing products and solutions portfolio, including regulatory compliance such as CTU-code and AAR.

James Douglas, Commercial Director at Exis Technologies, works with global partners in the sea transport chain to increase safety and improve productivity in dangerous goods logistics through the supply of tools and training. James’ role is to increase awareness of the IMDG Code, Hazcheck Systems and IMDG Code e-learning, especially amongst sea and shore side operations. He is also involved in developing new hazardous goods initiatives in the shipping community to increase safety in the supply chain. Exis has worked with industry partners to develop new software systems including a restrictions portal for container lines/ports, cargo inspections portal and a hazardous goods incidents database. Customers include 9 of the top 10 container lines, many of the major ferry/RORO operators, ports/terminals, logistics companies and a number or competent authorities.

Andrew has over 35 years’ experience in a range of technical, operational and training positions in shipping, port and logistics businesses. A qualified marine engineer and MBA graduate, he was appointed as Director of the DP World Institute in 2011, having previously being responsible for the global delivery of operational training programmes. He has managed container terminals in the UK ports of Bristol and Liverpool, and also worked for an International Port Consultancy business. Before joining DP World, he held a General Management position for P&O Ferries, a Dubai World business operating freight and passenger services. .

With an Industrial Engineer degree and more than 15 years of experience in Port Management, Pedro currently works as a Business Consultant in Port Business Development and Innovation at PORTEL (a Spanish public company with the specific role of Deploying ICT technologies in Spanish Ports) and has been PORTEL's representative in IPCSA in different events as an active member.

Pedro specialises in implementation of Collaborative IT Systems such as Single Windows or Port Community Systems for small and medium-sized Ports in Spain and abroad. Also, providing business process analysis in several areas in Port Management (ship operations, port services, cargo operations, port safety and security.) Pedro has also been involved with International organisations on Expert Groups regarding on Digitalization of Supply Chain and related projects focused on Maritime transport (TEN T Agency, FAO, Spanish Agency for International Development, etc.) in different countries (Europe, North and West Africa).

Pablo Martin Carbajal is the General Director for African Affairs for the Canary Islands government. His role is to promote political, economic and cooperation between the Canary Islands and West African countries. Pablo develops relations with embassies, foreign affairs ministries and sectorial ministries to launch initiatives at general and sectorial levels. He deals with the Canarian economic and social agents in order to coordinate a common policy towards internationalization. He is also CEO of Proexca where his main role is to foster Canarian exports and investment abroad, attract foreign investment to the Islands, create new programs and initiatives at a local level, and work with programs and initiatives.

Manuel Herrera is an engineering and business consultant especially interested in logistics, maritime transport and energy. As a mechanical engineer (University of Las Palmas, Canary Islands) he has served for many years in different technical and managing roles at several companies operating in the port of Las Palmas. He also holds an MBA degree (University of Liverpool) and an MSc degree in Industrial Engineering (UNED, Madrid). He currently lives in Belgium where he performs as a researcher (Centre of Operations Research and Econometrics) and as teaching assistant (Louvain School of Management) both at the Université catholique de Louvain.

Mike Howie was appointed Global System Specialist for the MoorMaster™ automated mooring products at Cavotec in 2017. Prior to that he had held the position of group Product Manager, Technology Manager and Engineering manager at Cavotec MoorMaster. Mr Howie began work with the automated mooring products in 2003 as a design and development role spending most of his time in ports developing early prototypes of the product. This included development of concepts for ship to ship and military systems. This role evolved to encompass product development, front line sales and market entry strategy development. Prior to Cavotec Mr Howie worked extensively in the wood processing industry focusing mostly on the automation of previously manual and dangerous tasks. Mr Howie has completed an executive MBA and holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

Mr. José Joaquín Hernández-Brito holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry (1986) by the University of La Laguna, and he is professor at the Faculty of Marine Sciences of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria since 1983. He has been a marine science researcher, supervisor for several thesis, and responsible for over thirty national and international projects. He has held several R & D management positions at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, such as Dean of the Faculty of Marine Science, Director of the Research Results Transfer Office (TTO), Director of the Scientific and Technological Park and research Vice-Rector. He has also held the position of Director of the Canary Institute of Marine Science. Since 2009, at the ICTS (Science and Technological Singular Infrastructure) PLOCAN (Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands), he has first been the Manager, and he is currently the Science, Technology, and Innovation Manager where he is in charge of developing infrastructures, services and projects. His main motivation is to bring out new knowledge, skills, marine and maritime resources, linking administration, training and business.

Dr. Christophe Joubert joined PRODEVELOP as Chief Technology Innovation Officer (CTIO) and works on innovative ICT solutions with top leading Spanish and international ports in Europe (Rotterdam, Cork, Malta Freeport, Rauma, and Assan), Oceania (Melbourne), MENA (Moroccan National Agency of Ports), Western Africa (Accra, Takoradi, and Cotonou). Christophe’s role is to contribute to Ports of the Future by applying new ideas and cutting-edge technologies from Internet of Things (IoT) to automation and spatial awareness. With a B.S. degree in computer science from Joseph Fourier University (UJF), France in 2001, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science, systems and software, from the Grenoble INP (National Technical Institute) France in 2002 and 2005, Christophe’s interests focus on multi-modal optimised cost-effective and flexible operations inside the terminal and in the wider port area. He is currently the Spanish Consortium Leader of the Advanced Plug & Play Smart Surveillance (APPS) project, board member of the H2020 DICE project, and leader of Smart Ports initiatives with IoT Solutions for connected Port Authorities.

Lars Kjaer has been with the World Shipping Council since its inception in 2000 and currently manages the WSC's activities in Europe regarding supply chain and cargo security policies. Additionally, he serves as the industry representative on a number of committees of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Organization of Standards (ISO) and the World Customs Organization (WCO). Prior to joining the World Shipping Council, Lars served as the Washington Representative for the Council of European and Japanese Shipowners' Associations (CENSA) from 1999 to 2000. Before joining CENSA, Lars was with the Danish Ministry of foreign Affairs, and served as counselor at the Royal Danish Embassy in Washington, D.C. (1993-98). During that tenure he was also chairman of the Cotton Club of foreign transportation counselors in Washington.

Dr. Ma is a professor of Maritime Economics and Policy at World Maritime University. Since 2001, he has also been Vice-President of the University. Dr. Ma is responsible for the University's Outreach programs which include Asia based MSc. programs and PG Diploma courses by distance learning. He has acted as visiting professor, external examiner, research fellow in a number of Asian and European Universities. He has been involved in a number of research projects for private as well as public organizations such as government agencies. He holds a PhD degree in economics from the University of Paris.

Daniel MacGregor has over 20 years’ experience in applying technology to business needs, and since 2014 has focused his expertise on the transport and logistics industry. Daniel has worked for the EmbeddedLab at ETH Zurich, going on to become a founding member of the Swiss technology start-up Nexiot AG. In his current role as Director Marketing and Sales of Nexiot AG, Daniel focuses on uncovering business needs and applying Nexiot’s cutting edge IoT and M2M technology to optimise his clients’ mobile asset fleets. During his previous experience as a Senior Consultant in IT Recruitment and Consulting, he was exposed to a broad range of technologies and industries, and leverages this experience to understand the customers’ objectives and enable them to define and achieve their asset intelligence and digitisation goals.

Olaf Merk leads the ports and shipping work at the International Transport Forum (ITF) of the OECD. As such, he directs studies on ports, shipping and port-cities. Olaf Merk is the author of various OECD publications including “The Impact of Mega-Ships” and “The Competitiveness of Global Port-Cities”. As Manager of the OECD Port-Cities Programme, his previous post at the OECD, he directed more than a dozen studies on port-cities, including on Hong Kong, Shanghai, Rotterdam and Hamburg. Prior to the OECD, he worked for the Netherlands Ministry of Finance.

Cecilia holds the position as Program Director for the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN). MACN is a global business network working towards the vision of a maritime industry free of corruption that enables fair trade to the benefit of society at large. MACN is comprised of app. 90 global companies (vessel owning companies and other maritime related companies) and has around 25% of the global tonnage and over 8000 ships in its membership. Cecilia was one of the front drivers for its establishment in 2011 and has served as chair of the network. Cecilia is an experienced anti-corruption specialist. Prior to joining BSR, Cecilia has over 8 years of compliance and shipping experience by working inhouse as senior compliance officer in the Maersk Group. She has been responsible for anti-corruption efforts globally, trained management and staff worldwide, implemented whistle blowing systems, conducted risk assessments, audits and misconduct investigations.

Yasuyuki Nishio started his career in 1992 with the Ministry of Transport (current MLIT) in Japan. He is in charge of the port sector focusing primarily on port development, international cooperation, and has recently overseen the reconstruction of port facilities damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake in Fukushima. From 2012 to 2014 he was appointed as managing director for Hiroshima prefecture and managed ports on site. He has since returned to MLIT and is in charge of port engineering.

Douglas Owen was appointed Secretary General of the BIC in October 2016. He has over 25 years’ experience in the maritime transportation industry, including over 10 years developing and commercializing innovative software solutions that helped many of the world’s largest carriers and container lessors to more efficiently manage their container fleets. Prior to joining the BIC, he served as Vice President, EMEA for International Asset Systems. He is a graduate of the California Maritime Academy.

Ken Rohlmann began his career as a dangerous goods safety advisor for Hapag-Lloyd, having graduated from the University of Applied Sciences (Leer) in 2012. Ken has worked for Hapag-Lloyd for nearly 20 years where he is now the Senior Director of Cargo Service & Dangerous Goods. This ties in with his work at CINS where he has been a board member since 2014. Ken is now the Vice-Chairman of CINS, established in 2011 to share information on all cargo related incidents.

Javier Saavedra is the Head of the HSE Dept. of Terminales Maritimos de Galicia SL (TMGA). He oversees TMGAS’s main business located in the ports of La Coruna and Ferrol, NW Spain. Here it operates an environmentally friendly, ATEX dry-bulk cargo terminal; a project cargo terminal catering mostly to the windmill manufacturing industry. The terminal also operates as a multi-purpose terminal for containerized steel and heavy lift cargo, as well as engaging in general stevedoring work.

Michael is Head of Cyber Innovation at Novae and is responsible for driving innovation and product development for the Cyber portfolio. Michael was previously at Liberty Specialty Markets for 6 years, where he was the Senior Underwriter on the Strategic Assets Team writing business across the classes of Cyber, Intellectual Property, Non-Damage Business Interruption and Reputation. He was responsible for leading and designing cyber programs for many Fortune 1000 companies across multiple industry sectors including Retail, Healthcare, Financial Institutions and the Energy Sector. Prior to that he was at Catlin, CNA Europe and HCCI, where he was a Technology and Media E&O Underwriter, starting his career in the market back in 2002. Michael is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Insurance and has a degree in Classical Studies from the University of Newcastle.

Joel Shirriff is the Global Practice Leader (GPL) for the Terminals & Transportation engineering and consulting capability within Ausenco. He has over 25 years of experience in design, management, and execution of marine bulk terminal construction projects and was previously employed as a Manager at a major multi-cargo bulk export terminal for 15 years, supervising projects ranging from small upgrades and maintenance work, to major terminal expansions. In his 12 years with Ausenco, he has managed many terminal projects around the world, ranging from concept studies to design and construction projects, as well as specialty consulting, third party review and inspection services. As part of his consulting practice, Joel focuses on services to improve the operations and maintenance of existing facilities, which includes simulation modelling and asset management. In this capacity he applies his personal experience in managing issues around safety, and operational efficiency in multi-modal transportation and ship loading operations.

Stephan Stiehler has more than 10 years experience in the international port and port equipment industry as well more than 20 years’ experience in the intelligent sensor industry. In June 2017 he starts his own company Stiehler Consulting for International Ports & Cranes strategic activities and at the same time he was appointed at Duisport (Duisburger Hafen AG) in the senior management of overseeing the ports strategic activities of sensor solutions for safety and automation as well of digitalization. From 2007 - 2017 he was in his former position at SICK AG the Strategic Industry Manager to develop and establish port & crane safety and automation solutions close with the international customers of ports and port equipment. In the early summer 2017 Stephan was appointed by the ICHCA ISP to become the next Vice Chairman of the ISP Technical Panel. Starting October 2017. Further he was till 2017 active in the Port Equipment Manufacturers Association – PEMA. Till 2015 / 2016 he was the PEMA chairman of the safety committee, one of the founders and the chair of the Master Class concept and the vice chair for the special events committee. At least the last 3 years Stephan was appointed as PEMA`s member of the board of directors to lead and coordinate in a team PEMA`s strategic alignment. Stephan holds an engineering degree in automation technology.

Peregrine Storrs-Fox has been with the TT Club since 1984, firstly handling claims and providing advice to all types of transport and logistics operators, including ports and terminals, until the late 1990s when he began directing claims operations worldwide for the Club. Since 2002, he has led the TT Club's internal risk management framework as well as directing its loss prevention services to Members. In this latter role he has particularly developed links with like-minded trade organisations and NGOs with a view to promote good practice in health and safety matters as well as general operations.

Peter is the Managing Director of Espero Logistics Solutions and works as a Maritime Logistics Expert at the Centre for Supply Chain and Logistics at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. Peter has project managed a number of logistics chain studies for port authorities in Australia. He has written several media articles and provided commentary on port privatisation, stevedoring operations in Australia and port planning. Peter was the General Manager at Patrick Container Terminals from 2007 to 2009, responsible for the four main container terminals in Australia with a workforce of over 1300 employees and revenue of $ 500 million per annum. He has conducted due diligence on a number of merger and acquisition opportunities in the logistics sector. Peter is a Master Mariner and has recently sailed around Cape Horn on a Tall Ship..

Chris Welsh was appointed Secretary General of the Global Shippers’ Forum in 2011 after serving as Secretary General of the European Shippers’ Council (ESC) from 1997-2002 where he played a prominent role in deregulating EU shipping and air cargo markets. Chris has held a variety of senior management roles for the UK Freight Transport Association, most notably establishing the FTA’s operations in Brussels and Ireland. Chris holds an MBA and is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CMILT) and a Member of the Chartered Management Institute (MCMI).

Rachael White has spent 25 years in the global shipping, logistics, port and transport industries as a researcher, journalist, editor, conference and event producer, marketing and PR consultant. A graduate of Cambridge University, with a 1st class degree in English, Rachael has edited transport industry trade journals, including Container Management, Bulk Distributor and Cargo Systems. In the past 15+ years, she has created agendas and recruited executives to speak at major industry conferences, including the TOC Events portfolio and Intermodal Europe. Rachael acts as co-owner of Cool Logistics Resources, providing specialist networking and education events for the global perishable transport and logistics markets. In addition to well-honed verbal and written communication skills, she has significant knowledge of the industry and worldwide contacts with senior industry and media figures.