Petro-chemicals specialist Philippe Zichert has been named as the new chairman of Via Marseille Fos (VMF), the promotional body formed by the port authority, the chamber of commerce and members of the maritime/waterways operators’ federation the UMF.
He succeeds Stephan Snijders, who is retiring after 42 years in the maritime industry. During his final board meeting, Mr Snijders was commended for his leading role in widening VMF’s reach to include the economic attractiveness of the port for industrial implantations.
Mr Zichert, 50, has been administration and finance director of Ceresine - a producer of wax ingredients for the cosmetics industry - since 2003. The company has imported and exported through Marseille Fos since 1926.
Mr Zichert became a VMF board member in 2017 and an elected member of the Marseille Provence chamber of commerce in 2016. In taking up the VMF chair, he pledged to continue promoting the port’s diversity both as an industrial base and as an alternative Mediterranean gateway for goods to and from Europe via the multimodal Rhone-Saone axis.
