The MEL Programme puts a strong focus on extracurricular activities to provide students with the chance to further develop themselves and their network. MEL offers a number of extracurricular activities as part of the Extracurricular Professional Development Programme. These activities include guest lectures by MEL Alumni and prominent business executives and academics on a MEL subject that makes headlines, company visits and short intensive seminars (Professional Development Courses) in cooperation with partners such as BIMCO.
The Alumni Lecture Series is an initiative that was developed in January 2014. It consists of a series of open lectures given my MEL Alumni.
These lectures provide the students with the opportunity to interact with MEL Alumni, who are now active professionals, learn about how MEL advanced their career and of course the opportunity to enhance their network.
Below you can find some of the Alumni that have visited MEL to take part in the Alumni Lecture Series.
Mr. Bali has been in a wide variety of shipping and logistics roles in various countries around the world, ranging from Singapore to Dubai, New Zealand and Parts of Europe. He holds an Undergraduate degree in Nautical Studies and a Masters in Maritime Economics and Logistics.
Initiation into shipping began with Intermodal services shipping reefers within the United Kingdom, which progressed into a sailing career in various capacities with different Oil Tanker and Ship Management Companies, including Univan, NYK, Genoa Maritime and silo conglomerate Japanese Tanker owners. He has been involved with the Youth Nautical development programme at the University of Plymouth at various stages during this period and continues to take interest in Automation innovation.
Currently, progressing with Maersk Line as a link between Shore side vessel operations and technical management as a Senior Marine Operator. Outside of daily shipping operations, Rahie takes a keen interest the future of alternative energy and vessel innovation within the Maersk Group and through the endeavors of the Nautical Institute.
Mr. Thomas Chaidas is currently Head of Continuous Improvement Europe at STAPLES, at the European Head Office located in the Netherlands. Thomas is a 2004 MEL graduate from Erasmus University, a graduate in Politics & Economics from University of Athens and a certified LEAN 6Sigma Black Belt.
After MEL graduation, Thomas started his career in the Netherlands working for DSV Solutions at different roles within Supply Chain Management, starting as project planner and ending up as Country Logistics Manager for Greece where he set up all logistics operations for the country. That eventually led to him working for different multinational companies such as Schneider Electric as Commercial Logistics Manager, and SARA LEE/Jacobs as Country Logistics Manager. Having a strong end-to-end supply chain and project management background, Thomas joined FedEx/TNT Express as Global OPS Project Manager Process Engineering, and later as Global Continuous Improvement Project Manager working for Global Process Excellence leading multiple global cross-functional projects focusing in business process improvement and change management. His last role at FedEx/TNT was Manager Process Improvement for EUROPE region.
Mr. Greco is a project manager with Drewry Maritime Advisors and the regional specialist for Latin America. He is experienced in dry bulk and container port operations, having worked for the mining company Vale for 10 years. Eduardo is knowledgeable in feasibility, design and planning of logistics and supply chain, with an understanding of port-hinterland logistics networks.
Eduardo’s experience in port capital projects includes participation in some major logistics infrastructure projects in Brazil, Canada, USA, Australia, Guinea, Liberia and Mozambique, where he was based for 3 years. Eduardo holds a bachelor of Business Administration, a Computer Engineering degree and a specialisation in Port Engineering.
He has also a Master of Science degree in Maritime Economics and Logistics from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Eduardo’s mother language is Portuguese and he also speaks fluent English, Spanish and Italian.
Rutger van der Hoeven joined the MEL program in 2011 as a part-time student combining a professional career with MEL.
He started his career at Dutch P&I Services after which he joined the Port of Amsterdam as Sales Director Energy products.
Today he is Managing Director, commodity trade at Aon, one of the largest insurance brokers in the world. Aon commodity trade services all types of commodity traders (from cocoa to oil) from around the globe.
We advise on risk and offer solutions to mitigate this same risk. Dominant products we offer are marine cargo, charterers liability and trade credit insurance.
Carla is currently working for DP World as part of the Global Operations team in Dubai doing Planning Optimization for over 45 terminals across the Globe.
Consultant and project manager for TBA Netherlands from 2008-2014. With a leading role in container terminal design, capacity analysis, improvement, TOS selection and training. I worked on over twenty projects in Europe, Australia, Asia, Middle East, Africa and America.
As part of the Operations department for Hutchinson’s Panama Ports Company (PPC Balboa), she worked as Operations Analyst (2006) and was responsible for constant assessment of KPIs, yard capacity utilization (monitoring and management), vessel productivity reports, labour control, and as a planner for rail operations for the Atlantic-Pacific container transfer and Vessel Planning for container and Ro-Ro vessels.
Carla holds a Master of Science degree in Maritime Economics and Logistics with thesis “The Economic Value of Terminal Operating Systems” (2008) with focus on the assessment of financial / performance-related contribution of TOS functionalities in the context of a container operation. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in International Business and an Associate Degree in Administrative Science (2006).
Christos is a Business and Projects Manager at Chemship B.V. He is experienced in multiple aspects of shipping, such as Sales & Purchase, Chartering and Finance activities. Within the frame of his position he is responsible for identifying, evaluating and negotiating business opportunities.
He commenced his career in the Chartering department of Stolt Tankers. Thereafter he joined Chemship B.V. as a Projects Analyst and consequently has progressed through various positions within the company.
Christos graduated from Piraeus University with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and holds a Master of Science degree in Maritime Economics and Logistics from Erasmus University
Ever since her graduation from MEL, Kajal has specialized in the industry that provides marine services to ports and terminals especially to the oil and gas sector. She has over 6 years of experience working for companies like Kotug International, Smit Lamnalco and SMIT Harbour Towage.
Kajal is currently working for Kotug International as project Manager Business Development in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Prior to this she worked with Smit Lamnalco Ltd. as a Commercial Manager in The Netherlands. In this position she was mainly responsible for Europe and Caribbean islands. In addition to this she has also done projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Before entering the marine services she worked in India for over 9 years and the last position she held was of an Export Manager where she managed the entire exports division including business development and logistics. She also represented the Indian company in The Netherlands to establish the European market for polystyrene foam products.
Kajal holds a Master of Science degree in Maritime Economics and Logistics (2009) and also a Masters in Marketing Management (MBA – specializing in marketing) from Mumbai University, India. Born and brought up in India she speaks Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi, English and Dutch.
Thalía is a Consultant in the Advisory Practice with experience in Supply Chain, Transportation and Logistics Management. She has deep experience in the design and implementation of 3PL & 4PL end to end Supply Chain Projects in several different industries. Key results have been reflected in cost and time reductions directly impacting profitable revenues. With broad experience in Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Brazil and USA, she has an enriched panorama of Latin America´s supply chain preparing each of the companies for global competitiveness.
Thalia experience has spanned both logistics service providers´ and customers´ side, respectively. She has developed 3PL consultative selling processes and tailor-made logistics implementation projects within the Aerospace, Automotive, Chemical, Consumer Products, Industrial and Retail industries.
By developing a 4PL model in Brazil for one the most important worldwide consumer products companies, she became part of South America´s innovation pioneers in Supply Chain.Recently she has been executing the Supply Chain Reinvention Strategy for one of the top food industry manufacturers, while implementing the plan for a major distribution center and a manufacturing plant in Mexico. She has developed valuable experience in project management, procurement, logistics’ operation management, continuous improvement and change management practices.
Representative engagement experience
• Manufacturing plant & Distribution center go-live project management: Executed the go-live project plan for a major brown-field manufacturer site and a green-field distribution center for a leading consumer goods customer. Designed and implemented Distribution KPI´s to accomplish with network fulfilment rates.
• 4PL Model Implementation: Developed a 4PL operation model for a large global fast moving & consumer goods customer. The project consisted on the redefinition of customer´s logistics’ operation management. Through continuous improvement and optimization practices, the model delivered a 90% and 95% on time suppliers´ and logistic service provider’s performance respectively; 98% container utilization and 2% logistic cost savings.
• 3PL Integrated Solutions Implementation: Developed customized IT based logistics improvement projects (shipment & order management, web visibility and performance monitoring). Assisted in the development of a customer service order management system model for one of the largest global Chilean retailers. Additionally engaged on an EDI project (customers and customs brokerage agent integration) for the worldwide leader in fashion industry in its first department store in Peru.
• 3PL Consultative Selling Solutions: Developed major RFP´s and RFQ´s processes across Latin America, by delivering integrated logistics best practices, shipper or buyers consolidations, container and packing optimization configurations, best fitting shipments, Incoterm models based on cargo type and freight management solutions
• Customer Service Improvement: Designed and implemented customer service and logistics KPI´s in a Business Objects environment with reports on volumes, financials, transit time performance and CO2 emissions. Via automated monthly reports, customers monitored and forecasted logistics expenses per charge code (i.e. fuel surcharge, handling charges, and cost per pallet/kilogram/SKU), monitored as well suppliers and logistics service provider’s performance.
Mr. Su is President and CEO of Erasmus Shipinvest Group companies, managing an established fleet of modern Panamax / Kamsarmax / Ultramax bulkers, which are always fixed on long-term employment with the world’s leading Commodities Majors / Traders.
Mr. Su has nearly 20-year extensive experience in ship-owning, operating and investment fields of dry-bulk and container shipping industries throughout Asia and Europe. Mr. Su graduated from Dalian Maritime University of China with a Bachelor degree in Maritime Law and International Shipping Management, and has a Master degree in Maritime Economics and Logistics from Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He speaks fluent Chinese, English and French.
Mr. Zwiers is an LNG Trader at Shell International Trading Middle East in Dubai. He graduated with an MSc in Maritime Economics & Logistics (MEL) in 2011.
After MEL graduation, Mr. Zwiers launched his career in the Netherlands, working for Shell in different positions, starting as as an LNG Strategy & Portfolio Analyst, which eventually led to his current position at Shell as an LNG Trader in the UAE (Dubai).
Contact with companies is one of the distinctive features of the Master Maritime Economics and Logistics (MEL). Therefore company visits are an important part of the curriculum and take place during the Academic Year. During a company visit the opportunity is offered to see how theory is applied in practice. Furthermore Company Visits offer handles for future career moves.
In the past years many companies with different backgrounds were visited. These companies include port terminals, shipping companies, banks, warehouses, logistics centres and district parks.
Some of the companies that we have visited in the past can be found below.
- DAMEN
- ECT
- Glencore
- Meyer Werft
- Port of Amsterdam
- Port of Antwerp
- Port of Rotterdam
- Royal Haskoning DHV
- Stolt Tankers
- Samsung
- CTA
- HPA
- Hapag-Lloyd
The Distinguished Lecture Series consist of lectures given by prominent speakers, including leading executives and distinguished scholars, on a MEL related subject.
These lectures provide the students with the opportunity to interact with the speakers in an actual business environment, to test their knowledge against that of an active professional, and of course, network with high level executives.
Below you can find some of the speakers that have contributed in the Distinguished Lecture Series.
Eleanor Hadland is an independent port consultant with almost 30-years experience in the industry. She initially worked for the UK’s largest port operator, Associated British Ports, and subsequently held senior level roles with Drewry Shipping Consultants, Moffatt & Nichol, BMT and AECOM. She splits her time between working with Drewry Maritime Research, where she lead its ports and terminal sector research team and working as an independent port sector advisor.
With Drewry, she is editor of both Global Container Terminal Operators – Annual Review & Forecast and the quarterly Ports & Terminals Insight reports. She has also spearheaded Drewry’s use of AIS data to model the performance of global container ports. As an independent maritime advisor she works with a diverse range of clients on projects outside of the container sector sphere including cruise, offshore energy and bunkering.
She is currently working with Asian Development Bank to research how smart port systems can support port sector decarbonisation efforts in Asia Paciifc. She was awarded BA (Hons) Geography by the University of Southampton (UK) in 1994 and has been a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport since 2001.
Dhananjay Bodke has an extensive track record at the Danish A.P. Moller Maersk group in its entities in the Netherlands. He has worked there for over 20 years in various roles. As the former Cargo Execution Manager, he oversaw the loading and unloading of cargo for Maersk, partners, and feeder vessels across Europe.
He is a certified Master Black Belt in Lean and Six Sigma from PMI UK and has successfully completed more than 400 projects.
Dhananjay Bodke has been a key player in spearheading transformation initiatives, such as the European transformation of Maersk’s operations team, leading to standardization and optimization. In his previous role as a Product Manager, he was instrumental in modernizing one of the oldest but most vital Maersk container tracking systems.
Currently, as the Senior Process Manager at APM Terminals, he is responsible for preparing the APMT Hub terminals for an even better productivity than today and a mindset to meet customer promises.
Ben Vree started work in the Rotterdam Port as a Boarding Clerk in 1975.
After he followed the Port and Transport College he became Commercial Manager within Seaport Terminals as part of the Furness group. After nearly 10 years, he changed to Van Ommeren to become active in liquid bulk handling (tank storage) and after almost 12 year he moved to Singapore as Regional Director.
In 2000 he returned to Rotterdam to join Smit International as CEO, a stock listed company active in towage, salvage and maritime projects. After a take-over by dredging company Boskalis in 2009, he joined the Executive Board of this group. However, he left in 2011 to do a few interim jobs.
Now Ben Vree is CEO of APM Terminals Europe, i.e. responsible for the existing container terminal on the first Maasvlakte and development of a new fully automated terminal on Maasvlakte II.
In the period 2004-2008 my prime responsibility as Senior and later Lead Port Specialist of Transport Anchor of the Energy, Transport and Water (ETWTR) Division of the World Bank was to avail my expertise in ports and waterborne transport to World Bank projects, both of ETWTR and of WB Regions across the world.
This cross support input was provided through missions, drafting and/or review of Project Terms of Reference, participation on Bidding Evaluation exercises, providing comments on reports, (peer) review exercises, meetings and discussions with internal and external experts and stakeholders, and the (co-) drafting of a number of publications and reports.
I retired from the World Bank on October 31, 2008, but continued my activities as a Short Term Consultant (STC), in particular providing expertise to my colleagues in a number of port and waterborne transport related projects.
I worked in over 70 countries in the world in port and transport related projects.
Eelco Hoekstra joined the Executive Board of Royal Vopak in Rotterdam in 2010. He was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board & CEO as per the 1st of January 2011. He has almost twenty years of experience in the international tank storage industry.
After joining Vopak in 2003, Mr Hoekstra took up the position of Managing Director of Vopak Horizon Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. In 2005, he relocated to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he assumed the position of President of Vopak Latin America. In 2008, he was appointed Division President of Vopak Asia in Singapore.
Mr Hoekstra holds a Master’s in Economics from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. He is a member of the International Business Leaders’ Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai (IBLAC); a member of the Advisory Boards of the Rotterdam School of Management; a member of the Board of the European Petrochemical Association (EPCA); and a Member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).
Eric Herman joined Damco on May 1, 2012, as Chief Commercial Officer, responsible for sales, industry verticals, marketing and supply chain development.
Eric Herman started his professional career in 1991 at General Electric Plastics in the Netherlands, where he occupied several positions with progressive seniority in Sales, Marketing, Supply Chain and Business Management in the Netherlands, UK, USA and China. In August 2008, Eric returned to the Netherlands from Asia to lead SABIC’s European Polypropylene (PP) business.
On April 1, 2010 Eric was appointed to the newly-created position of Chief Commercial Officer for Safmarine Container Lines.
Education:
GARP- Financial Risk Manager 2014
Erasmus, MSc, Financial Economics 2006
RSM, MSc, Accounting & Control 2006
RSM, MSc, Finance & Investments 2005
RSM, Business Administration 2004
Work Experience:
Shell Trading 2010 – present
Market Risk Team Leader
Market Trading Risk Analyst
APG
Investment Strategist & Portfolio Manager 2008-2009
Previous Jobs at Robeco, Husbandry Company and Commercial.
Maarten Mol is a Branch Manager at Mainfreight. He is responsible for all ocean shipments from and to the Netherlands of Mainfreight. He graduated with an MSc in Urban Port and Transport Economics (UTPE) in 2010.
After graduation, Mr. Mol started his career at Mainfreight (former Wim Bosman) as a Graduate. His first job was loading and unloading trucks to learn logistics from A to Z. In the past years he has been working for Mainfreight at logistics, forwarding, business development and ocean freight (current role).
Gérard Moussault is considered one of The Netherlands’ preeminent banking lawyers and has notable experience in the field of shipping advisory.
A general banking lawyer with notable experience in ship finance and restructuring matters, Gérard’s shipping advisory practice is distinctly international in flavour. His track record includes advising on the financing and restructuring of formerly state-owned shipping companies in Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic States.
Prior to joining Bird & Bird in May 2010, Gérard was the managing partner of one of the Top 10 Dutch law firms and built an impressive practice focusing on structured finance, corporate finance and corporate restructuring.
In Chambers 2009 edition he was characterized: “Always one step ahead”. He is singled out for his expertise in structured financing, project and asset financing.
Jeroen Schuering was born in Zevenaar, the Netherlands (1975). He is fluent in English and has conversational level capability in Spanish and German. He is a Dutch citizen, is married to Florencia and has one daughter Emilie.
During his childhood he lived for several years with his parents in Fort Rucker, Alabama (USA) where he attended the Primary & Elementary school before returning to the Netherlands to attend High School.
His initial study year was at the University of West-Florida (UWF) in Pensacola, Florida, where he attended the course ‘General Management’. He graduated from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and received a Masters degree in Business Economics, with two majors and a thesis:
1. Organisation & Management
2. International Economics & Business Studies
Thesis title: “Airport Alliances, some remarks on a new phenomenon”.
Mr. Schuering initiated his working life at P&O Nedlloyd in 2003, and started as a Management Trainee working in various Commercial departments ranging from Sales & Marketing to Ship Brokering. Working locations included the Netherlands, Argentina, the United Kingdom and Germany.
After Maersk purchased P&O Nedlloyd in 2006, Jeroen accepted a position as Marketing Manager for Central Europe. In this position he handled Market Intelligence and Communication matters for in total 12 northern European countries.
In July 2009, Jeroen started as Key Client Manager for Government cargoes for Maersk Line. Based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, he was in charge of Maersk Line’s US and foreign Government business in Europe and Africa.
Jeroen changed roles in 2012 and became Cluster Manager for Safmarine, responsible for countries the Netherlands and Switzerland. In this position he is a member of the Maersk Netherlands Cluster Management Team.
Since 2014 he is Global Head of Key Accounts at Safmarine, based at the head-office in Copenhagen Denmark.
Neil Davidson has over 25 years’ experience in the port sector. He joined Drewry in 1997 and founded the company’s ports practice.
His current role is focused on Drewry’s publications and new products in the ports and terminals sector. He has been closely involved as both contributor and editor of all of Drewry’s annual and one-off port sector publications, and spoken at over 80 industry conferences, seminars and private briefing sessions worldwide. He regularly contributes expert insight and analysis to the trade press and national newspapers, as well as TV and radio on occasion.
His previous consultancy experience included participation in port projects in global locations including Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa, Australia and the Middle East. The work included buy and sell-side due diligence, privatisations, strategic advice and working for lenders as well as commercial and market analyses.
Prior to joining Drewry he spent 8 years with the Port of Tilbury, London, specialising in business planning. He was closely involved in the successful management buy-out of the port in 1992, and its subsequent trade sale to Forth Ports plc in 1995. He also gained freeport status for the port, acting as Freeport Manager for 2 years.
A graduate of the Department of Maritime Studies, Cardiff University, his industry experience also includes working for Lloyd’s of London and the Medway Ports Authority, Sheerness, UK.
Paul Smits is CFO of Port of Rotterdam as of 1 June 2011. He is responsible for finance, IT and procurement. He is setting up initiatives to stimulate innovation in the Port of Rotterdam. He is also active in accelerating the execution of essential elements in the Port Vision 2030, e.g. with respect to environment.
Before joining Port of Rotterdam he worked for the national telecommunications operator KPN. In his last position he was responsible for all shared services of KPN in The Netherlands. Before that Mr. Smits was CFO of KPN Business Market.
Mr. Smits is Certified Management Accountant and Certified Treasury Professional.
Marcus Jung is a Partner at FPG AIM, this is a joint Venture with Financial Products Group Co. Ltd. of Japan (“FPG”). With offices in the Netherlands, Dubai and Singapore. FPG AIM provides global sourcing, structuring, arranging, M&A and advisory services to investors, banks and companies active in the aircraft, shipping and marine container industries.
he is also a Member of the Board, Non-Executive Director at FPH Amentum, which is an independent and dedicated third party servicer to aircraft equity investors as well as banks and debt investors in the aviation sector. FPG Amentum is unique in that it is an Ireland-based full-service provider with all key functions in-house and a scale that puts it amongst the top 20 aircraft lessors, yet it provides services exclusively on a third party basis. FPG Amentum has a track record of successfully investing billions of US$ and managing some of the most complex restructuring and repossession projects for our financial institution customers
Mr. Jung holds an MSc in Business Management from University of Groningen.
Ruud Legters obtained his MSc in Business Administration at the University of Groningen in 1988. After fulfilling his military service as Marine Officer at the Royal Dutch Navy he worked for 5 years in the paper industry. Thereafter he started his banking career at ING Bank.
In 1996 he moved to NIBC in The Hague and begun his career as shipping banker. He was responsible for the origination and management of senior and junior loans and arranging equity for companies owning multi-purpose vessels, container vessels, dry cargo vessels, tanker vessels, offshore vessels and yards.
In 2005 he continued his shipping banker career at DVB Bank, the leading specialist in international transport finance. In his current position as Senior Credit Officer Shipping and Offshore, he is responsible for the risk awareness within the bank by coordinating and performing risk analyses, supporting the Credit Committee and providing risk assessments to Senior Management. In cooperation with the Relationship Manager the Senior Credit Officer Shipping and Offshore he is also responsible for the content and structure of new finance proposals as well as for reviews of existing deals. With his team of 5 Credit Officers in Amsterdam/Schiphol and 2 in Athens/Greece he manages a loan portfolio of in total USD 6 billion, divided over 500 vessels and 125 clients.
The Professional Development Courses & Seminars are offered in partnership with external organizations and take the form of intensive seminars.
To mix active and busy professionals with MEL students has proven a worthwhile endeavor, highly evaluated by both groups, as well as giving students a chance to broaden their network.
Below you can find some of the guests that have visited MEL to take part in the Professional Development Courses & Seminars.
Expectations of the course:
- Create awareness of what Project Management is, how it can be implemented, and what the benefits are;
- To provide the MEL students with an overview of the best, most high end and latest Project Management tools that are being used in the industry today;
- To learn Time Management Skills that can be applied to managing your workload at MEL as well as managing your workload in the work place after graduation;
- Carry out diagnostic assessments to recognize improvement opportunities;
- Introduction to LEAN 6Sigma (Lean Management, Change Management, DMAIC & DMEDI) & live project exercise on Lean;
- Introduction of SCRUM Agile framework for completing complex projects.
Course Instructor:
Mr. Thomas Chaidas
In this seminar, you will learn about networking, and the way you can use it to find work in the Netherlands. The lecturer uses a lot of practical examples and adds a portion of humor to help you enlarge your network. Also, he educate you on all the processes involved in how networking ‘works’ in the Netherlands. All students can ask their questions during the seminar, it is a very interactive session and it even includes a genuine networking exercise. Be prepared for an inspirational session!
Seminar Instructor:
Mr. Richard Engelfriet
On October 8th, the Erasmus Center for Maritime Economics and Logistics (MEL) and YoungShip Rottedam (YSR) signed a sponsor contract at the campus of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Part of the contract is the enrolment of all MEL students to the Rotterdam branch of the international network community for young professionals and students. This provides the students with the opportunity to meet people who are working in the maritime industry in and around Rotterdam.
The two organisations will work closely together on organising seminars and networking events aimed at developing the next generation of maritime professionals. The majority of the MEL MSc programme participants are international students, for example the current class has 35 students with 17 different nationalities. The membership base of YSR is also very international with members from all over the world. “Therefore it was obvious that we should combine forces, and not only provide social activities, but also work on knowledge sharing and enhancement.” as YSR board member Frederic Løvenskiold explains.
From the early establishment in Bergen, YoungShip has experienced a booming growth. Today, YoungShip provides access to 2.500 young members in 16 central maritime clusters spread all over the globe. The Rotterdam branch was established in November 2014 and has proofed to be a suitable platform for meeting equal minded maritime professionals and students. A broad mix of international attendees usually find their way to the monthly gatherings.
- The Seminar starts with a chronologic overview of the growth of the capacity and dimensions of container vessels since the 1950’s
- It explains the limitations of growth due to ‘barriers’ such as the Panama Canal and how these were tackled after which the TEU capacity increased from about 4,000 TEU to the Ultra Large Container Carriers of today with capacities up-to 20,000 TEU
- Next the seminar lists the issues that ports and terminals, wishing to receive these very large vessels, were required to take
- In conclusion, the seminar points at the fact that smaller (than the ULCC) container vessels are being pushed out of the main trunk routes such as the Asia-Europe route and diverted to North-South and Inter-Asia routes. As a consequence ports in Africa, Latin America and in Asia are now also forced to take measure to receive these larger vessels. This is commonly known as the Cascading Effect.
Seminar Instructor:
Mr. Bert Kruk, Port Consultant of the World Bank