IAPH is pleased to announce the election of Boudewijn Siemons, CEO of Port of Rotterdam to the IAPH board as regional vice-president for Europe.

Boudewijn became CEO of Europe's largest port in 2024 after having previously served as interim CEO and COO at the port authority. Before joining the Port of Rotterdam in 2020, Boudewijn worked at Royal Vopak as president of the North and Latin America division having also worked as part of their management team in Europe, the Middle East and the US. Before that, Boudewijn held various management positions at Royal VolkerWessels. He began his career in 1987 in the Netherlands Royal Navy, where he served until 1998. He studied at the Netherlands Royal Naval Institute and Technical University Delft.

​IAPH President and CEO of Hamburg Port Authority Jens Meier commented: “We congratulate and welcome Boudewijn to the IAPH board. The Port of Rotterdam has been a steadfast supporter of IAPH’s vision of being the global ports’ forum for industry collaboration and excellence, playing key roles in the IAPH Environmental Ship Index, clean marine fuels, port readiness level and onshore power working groups, as well as in the association’s work on port call optimization, supply chain resilience, safety and security.”

​Boudewijn Siemons stated: “I’m honored to be elected and look forward to contributing to the important work of the IAPH. It’s my ambition to intensify the collaboration between ports, delivering tangible progress on decarbonization, digital interoperability and supply chain resilience. As ports, we can strengthen our community that is unified in purpose, diverse in voice, and bold in action.”

Boudewijn’s mandate in IAPH is effective immediately, with the current term running until the 2027 Annual General Meeting, which coincides with next year's World Ports Conference.

​The post of regional vice-president of Europe was previously held by Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO of Port of Antwerp-Bruges, who left the port authority in April this year.