If there was a prize for making a successful transition from the virtual to the real world, then Eldar Astthorsson, Head of Marketing and Communications at Iceland\u2019s Ports of Faxafl\u00f3i, would be a contender.<\/p>\n
Before joining the maritime sector in 2025 Astthorsson worked for more than 14 years at CCP Games, the Icelandic creator of the internationally successful EVE Online<\/em> space-based role-playing game, where he worked on branding and communications for a global audience.<\/p>\n Now he leads marketing and communications at Ports of Faxafl\u00f3i, the Icelandic port authority that operates Iceland’s largest port network across Reykjav\u00edk, Akranes, Grundartangi and Borgarnes.<\/p>\n Perhaps unsurprisingly \u2013 given his creative online background \u2013 Astthorsson is also a leading driver of Faxafl\u00f3i\u2019s innovative DOKK system, and he will be letting the short-sea shipping sector know what it can learn from the cruise port-call platform at the 2027 Coastlink Conference.<\/p>\n What began life as a local operational solution to the familiar challenge of fragmented port-call coordination across separate organisational systems, has now grown from into a shared platform connecting ports across Iceland and the Faroe Islands.<\/p>\n DOKK launched in May 2026 and provides a shared digital environment covering the lifecycle of a cruise port call, from initial request and berth assessment to approval, subsequent changes and departure, and now connects 39 ports and 11 agencies representing almost eight million estimated passengers.<\/p>\n Astthorsson\u2019s presentation will share the practical lessons from building this collaboration between independent ports and explore what short-sea shipping and other regional port networks can learn from the experience \u2013 including the value of shared data, the importance of local control and the organisational work required to turn a digital platform into shared infrastructure.<\/p>\n