AAPA Seaports
The “Jewel of the Pacific” – Valparaíso, Chile – was the site of the AAPA 107th Annual Convention. Held in October, the event brought together over 700 participants, 30 speakers and 95 sponsors from 30 countries and four continents.
* By Tom Hranac *
For the first time in its history, the AAPA gathered on the South American mainland to celebrate its 107th Annual Convention in Valparaíso, Chile, from October 7-10, 2018. The event, which achieved another first by being organized in conjunction with AAPA’s annual Latin American Congress of Ports, brought together over 700 participants, 30 speakers and 95 sponsors from 30 countries and four continents to the “Jewel of the Pacific.” Gloria Hutt Hesse, Chile’s minister of transportation and telecommunications, delivered the keynote address.
During the AAPA Annual Membership Meeting and Installation of Officers 2018-2019, William D. Friedman began his one-year term as 2018-2019 chairman of the board. Friedman, president and CEO of the Port of Cleveland, succeeds Steve Cernak, chief executive and port director of Port Everglades.
As AAPA’s board chairman, Friedman also serves as the association’s U.S. delegation chair, whose other officers include: Chairman-Elect Gary G. Nelson, Port of Grays Harbor; Vice Chairman Mario Cordero, Port of Long Beach.
Canadian delegation officers are: Chairman Carl Laberge, Saguenay Port Authority; Chairman-Elect Sean Hanrahan, St. John’s Port Authority; and Vice Chairman Denis Caron, Belledune Port Authority.
Chairing the Caribbean delegation this year is Glenn Roach, Barbados Port Inc. The chairman-elect is John Bishen, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Port Authority; and the vice chairman is Orlando Forbes, Freeport Harbor Company.
Officers of the Latin American delegation are: Chairman Giovanni Benedetti, Sociedad Portuaria Regional de Cartagena S.A.; Chair-Elect Francisco Javier González Silva, Empresa Portuaria Arica; and Vice Chairman Angel Elías, Ente Administrador Puerto Rosario.
AAPA also presented PPM® (Port Professional Manager) Latino certificates to 13 graduates: Jorge Barakat of the Panama Maritime Authority, Mónica Blanco of the Port of Bahía Blanca, Víctor Colace of the Port of Bahía Blanca, Juan Andrés Duarte of DUAGA Consulting, Mariana Grassi of the Port of Bahía Blanca, Ricardo Grien of the National Port Administration of Uruguay, Mario Miranda of the Maritime Port Authority of El Salvador, Osvaldo Ortiz of the Maritime Port Authority of El Salvador, Meredith Pinedo of the Panama Maritime Authority, Carlos Rodríguez Acosta of Inatlantic S.A., Marcelo Rodríguez of the Port of Quequén, Arturo Rojas of the Port of Quequén and Eugenia Tortora of the Port of Bahía Blanca.
