The Port of Houston Authority (PHA) announced that Executive Director H. Thomas Kornegay was unanimously elected and installed as President of the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) during the association's conference in Shanghai, China. Kornegay has been affiliated with the IAPH for 20 years and served the organization in a number of leadership capacities.
"It is an honor to take the helm of the global maritime industry's leading organization," stated Kornegay. "I am looking forward to working collaboratively with the officers and staff of IAPH to develop and implement a bold agenda aimed at tackling enormous challenges and seizing vast opportunities that confront ports worldwide ' from economic viability and capital resource development to security and environmental stewardship."
Other 2005-2007 officers of IAPH include First Vice President Datin
Paduka O.C. Phang, General Manager of Port Klang Authority, Malaysia;
Second Vice President Gichiri Ndua, Kenya Ports Authority, Third Vice
President Bernard S. Groseclose, Jr., President and CEO of the South Carolina State Port Authority; and Immediate Past President Pieter Struijs, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operational Officer of Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands. Dr. Satoshi Inoue is the IAPH's Secretary General.
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, the IAPH comprises representatives of approximately 351 ports and top executives from major industry corporations in 87 countries around the world. The members' ports as a whole handle 85% of the world's container traffic and more than 60% of the global seaborne trade.
During the IAPH's 2003 conference in Durban, South Africa, Kornegay and other PHA officials made a formal presentation to affirm Houston's bid to host the IAPH's 2007 conference, which is expected to be attended by more than 1,000 delegates. The Hilton Americas Hotel has been selected as the host hotel and Continental Airlines has been selected as the official airline of the conference. The conference is expected to have a $3.5 million impact to the Houston economy.
PHA Chairman Jim Edmonds stated, "The IAPH's 2007 conference will advance Houston's stature as a world class destination. In addition, I am confident that Tom Kornegay's extensive experience will greatly enhance the direction of IAPH's strategic leadership."
PHA Public Affairs Director Argentina M. James was elected to serve as vice president of the 2007 conference in Houston. "The highlight of the conference will be to provide the conference delegates a technical tour of the Port Authority's highly anticipated Bayport Container and Cruise Terminal. Activities include a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Cruise Terminal schedule to open during the conference capsule. There will also be a capsule burial ceremony for the Bayport Container Terminal that will have opened in 2006 as was done at IAPH conference held in Houston in 1977 for the PHA Barbours Cut Container Terminal," said James.
The PHA is also being represented at the IAPH's Shanghai conference by Vice Chairman Kase Lawal, Commissioner Jimmy Burke, Commissioner Jim Fonteno and Commissioner Cheryl Thompson-Draper.
