Attendees were welcomed on the Monday night by Dirk De fauw, Mayor of Bruges at the historic town hall. Some 70 guests including the hosts - Port of Antwerp-Bruges ESPO’s Secretary General, Isabelle Ryckbost, World Ports Sustainability Program’s Technical Director, Antonis Michail and Bogdan Oldakowski, Secretary General, Baltic Ports Organization.
The welcome reception gave delegates the perfect place to meet up with old and new friends to network before being given a detailed tour of the venue learning about its impressive history. The town hall of Bruges is one of the oldest in the Low Countries and stood example for several town halls that were erected in other towns afterwards.
GreenPort Congress & Cruise 2022 kicked off yesterday 18 October 2022 at Bruges Meeting & Convention Centre with a welcome from our host port representative Rik Goetinck, General Director Policy & Strategy, Port of Antwerp-Bruges. Followed by keynotes from Isabelle Ryckbost, Secretary General, European Sea Port Organisation and Capt Sameer Bhatnagar, Head of Fuel Transition & Infrastructure, A.P. Moller – Maersk.
After an informative day of learning and networking delegates at day one of GreenPort Congress & Cruise attended the conference dinner at ABC-toren based within the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and were greeted with a packed dining room with delegates from all corners of the globe rubbing shoulders and establishing new friendships and professional contacts.
Delegates were invited to enjoy a delicious 3 course meal using the freshest ingredients and the networking dinner gave delegates the opportunity to make new connections and continue the day’s discussions in a relaxed setting.
After an uplifting welcome from Piet Vandenkerkhove, Customer Relations Maritime Business/Market Intelligence/Accountmanager Cruise & Bulk, Antwerp-Bruges, delegates had the opportunity to hear about one of the next GreenPort venues in February 2023 from Jackie Spiteri, Managing Director, Sustainable ESG representing the first host port in the Oceanic region, Port of Newcastle.
Photos of the conference will be uploaded on our website next week, and you can see live coverage of the event on twitter @GreenPortBiz. Contact the organisers for further information by emailing congress@greenport.com.
