Steve Alaerts is Director Marketing and Sales and Board Member at foodcareplus, an international logistics service provider for the food industry. He started his career in the shipping industry with Hyundai Merchant Marine and joined foodcareplus in 2004, where he has applied his knowledge of containerised shipping to develop new markets and services for key players in the food industry. Steve is a founding member of the Port of Antwerp Reefer Expertise Group, where he leads the “First Port of Call” workgroup. He also lectures on cold chain logistics at APEC, the Antwerp Port Education Centre, and at Portilog, the Belgian port and logistics training institute. Steve is a founding member of the Port of Antwerp Reefer & Perishables Expertise Group and strongly believes that knowledge transfer is the key to future development of logistics products.

Jon Arnold began his career in the life sciences, after he received his MSc in Chemistry. In 2010, he transitioning into marketing and began working towards his MBA which was earned in 2014. Joining Intercomp Company in 2014, he combines 20-plus years’ experience within the aviation and transportation industries with Intercomp’s almost 40 years in providing weighing equipment throughout the world.

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. As well as his board role, Richard provides ICHCA International’s Technical Advisor service and is deeply involved in the association’s work with various international agencies and regulatory bodies.

James Douglas is a Director of Exis Technologies and has been with the company since 2009. He has been involved in the transport and logistics industries for over 30 years at a number of IT and consultancy companies and previously worked with Exis as a customer and consultant on dangerous goods-related projects. At Exis, he works with global partners in the sea transport chain to increase safety and improve productivity in dangerous goods logistics, and raise awareness of Exis's Hazcheck Systems and IMDG Code e-learning services within sea and shore side operations. Hazcheck Systems and IMDG Code e-learning are now used by 16 of the top 20 container lines globally and by many European ferry/ro-ro operators. With the launch of the new CTUpack e-learning course, he is now also raising awareness of the issues involved in container packing and promoting best practice in the industry.

Ian Dunmill first worked as a systems engineer, designing electronic weighing systems for process control, as well as stand-alone industrial weighing equipment. He joined the United Kingdom’s National Weights and Measures Laboratory in 1985 as a type approval engineer, first working on industrial, then retail weighing equipment. He became head of the section responsible for the type approval of petrol pumps in 1988 and was closely involved in the development of OIML R 117 and R 118. In 1993, Ian became NWML’s OIML Manager, responsible for the secretariat of OIML TC 9/SC 2 Automatic weighing instruments, as well as being the UK’s point of contact for all OIML matters. Ian became Assistant Director at the BIML in Paris in 1999, since when he has been responsible for following the technical activities and publications of a number of OIML technical committees, subcommittees and project groups (TCs/SCs/PGs), as well as for the revision of the OIML’s technical work procedures. He also has particular responsibility for the OIML’s developing country activities. He is the OIML’s contact point for liaisons with the WTO, UNIDO and ISO DEVCO, as well as following the regional activities of AFRIMETS and SADC SQAM structures.

Simon graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from Cambridge University in 2001 and after a short spell at Ineos Chlor joined James Fisher and Sons plc in 2004 where he became Managing Director of one of their subsidiary companies, RMS Ltd, supplying specialist downhole equipment for the oil industry. After the successful acquisition and merger of Pumptools Ltd to form RMSpumptools Simon moved to the Isle of Wight to run Strainstall Ltd, another James Fisher group company in 2011. Strainstall supplies load monitoring products and solutions into many industries all over the world, in recent years expanding with new products and targeting new markets. In the last two years Strainstall has developed, and is now supplying it’s Container Weight System (CWSTM) specifically designed to retrofit to existing ports container handling equipment to meet the upcoming requirements of the SOLAS amendment.

Matthew Gore is a Senior Associate at Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) and specialises in transactional corporate and commercial law, with extensive experience in container shipping. Matthew has worked on commercial contracts for shippers, forwarders, shipping lines and terminal operators. He also has particular expertise in multi-jurisdictional transactions and international infrastructure projects in a number of different sectors including shipping (container, roll-on / roll-off and dry bulk); ports and terminals; logistics contracts and arrangements; and multimodal transport. Before joining HFW, Matthew was employed by a global shipping and industrial conglomerate working in a variety of commercial and operational roles in the UK and Denmark which has provided him with a sound understanding of the liner shipping and logistics industries.

Simone Kraal is Damco’s Global Ocean Operations Manager based out of the headquarters in The Hague, The Netherlands. She is responsible for the project portfolio of Ocean Operations. Before joining Damco, Simone has worked in multiple operational oriented roles for Maersk Line.

Lars Meurling is Vice President, Marketing and Product Business Development at Bromma Conquip, the world leader in crane spreaders. Lars has spent many years at the company and has led development efforts in the ship-to-shore and mobile harbour crane business sectors.

Richard is a safety and skills professional with a Masters in Training and Development who has been involved in the ports industry for 17 years. Prior to ports, Richard worked in the nuclear industry on safety and skills provision. Richard was the Learning and Development manager for Associated British Ports for 10 years and has been the director of Port Skills and Safety for 7 years. Port Skills and Safety is a subscriber organisation for UK ports with a remit to share best practice, develop safety guidance and standards and produce qualification frameworks for the industry. PSS members handle 95% of total UK port traffic. PSS works with a network of stakeholders including the UK regulators the HSE and MCA, government, trade unions and of course ICHCA.

Stephan Trauth is working for Hirschmann MCS for 4 years. He is Key Account Manager for OEM’s and partners in the APAC region. Stephan is responsible for business development in harbour applications. Hirschmann (former PAT) is a well-established brand in the harbour market and a supplier for safety solutions on cranes. With comprehensive knowledge of force measurement and solutions for overload protection and weighing systems, the engineer is a competent contact for your questions.

Jos van der Meché specialises in the carriage of goods (multimodal, road and rail), freight forwarding & logistics and terminal operations. Jos also handles numerous issues in relation to (marine) insurance law. Jos is a specialist in resolving cargo claims and conflicts, and is regularly appointed in connection with cross-border disputes involving cargo ownership, arrests, liens and the like. The clients represented by Jos include both Dutch and international insurance companies, terminals and carriers. Chambers Europe wrote the following about Jos: 'Clients describe Jos van der Meché as "approachable, down to earth and hugely knowledgeable." He has extensive experience in maritime insurance, particularly advising terminal operators'. He 'understands the niche of transportation law and is easily accessible'. Legal 500 2016 wrote that his CMR knowledge is ‘second to none’.

Frank Van Reybroeck was the owner a forwarding company in Antwerp for the 35 years until it was sold in 2014. Previously, he was president of the Antwerp forwarding association from 1999-2006. Mr Van Reybroeck is currently a member of the board of the Antwerp chamber of commerce, and is president of Porticom, who specialise in IT communication in the Port.

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).

Following a 13 year career in various operational management roles within the logistics sector, I transferred into the Insurance sector joining the TT Club, in a joint Claims and Loss Prevention role in October 2010. I am a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport, a Specialist Member of the Institute of Risk Management and a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute. I am a National CPC holder and a former Dangerous Goods Safety Advisor. I currently have active roles with industry organisations such as FIATA, BIFA, HSE and BPA.

Beat Zwygart established LASSTEC in 2004, a container load-weighing and accident-prevention system. Beat has accumulated many years’ experience in the container handling industry including founding and directing the marketing company for ELME’s Crane Spreader division. LASSTEC was aquired by Conductix Wampfler in September 2013 and Beat continues to work for Conductix to integrate the product into the group worldwide.