New ESPO chairman urges ports to become matchmakers for industry

New ESPO chairman urges ports to become matchmakers for industry The European Sea Ports Organization's new chairman said Tuesday the organization has become a laboratory for ideas to drive port development and stakeholder cooperation forward in the coming years.
   Victor Schoenmakers, who is also director for Europe at the Rotterdam Port Authority, said, “ESPO should become a genuine think-thank on future challenges of port management and port development. In that way we can really contribute to a professional and flourishing European port sector.'
   Schoenmakers said ESPO will sign an memorandum of understanding next spring with the American Association of Port Authorities.
   'Whilst some predicted years ago that port authorities would become superfluous, I believe we are witnessing today a renaissance of the port authority in Europe,” he said. “Not the bureaucratic, semi-governmental institute we used to know, but a dynamic matchmaker which facilitates business development and at the same time looks after sustainability of the port and its harmonious integration in environment and society.'