The European Sea Ports Organisations (ESPO)’s General Assembly today unanimously elected Ansis Zeltiņš as its new Chair.
Mr Zeltiņš has been CEO of the Freeport of Riga Authority since 2017 and has been involved in the maritime industry for 20 years. He has represented his country at various internationals such as the IMO and has been a member of the board of EMSA. He has the qualification of a chief mate on ships of 3000 gross ton (gt) and above. Ansis has been Vice Chair of ESPO since 2022. He succeeds Zeno D’Agostino who chaired the organisation for the past two years.
The General Assembly also elected two new Vice Chairs: Gerardo Landaluce Calleja, President of the Port Authority of Algeciras Bay since 2019 and Cédric Virciglio, Strategic Planning Director at Haropa Port since 2021.
Upon his election, Mr Zeltiņš said: "I am honoured to lead the most professional and strongest industry team of the European Sea Ports Organisation. Our strength is proven, as well as our wide competence, unity and ever-present partnership spirit. Together with the ESPO team, we will put our efforts to continue cementing these values to assist Europe’s ports - whether small or big, building a sustainable and a still very competitive, European port environment. I really welcome the election of two port industry professionals Cédric Virciglio and Gerardo Landaluce Calleja as my Vice Chairs. We express our gratitude towards all the European port colleagues and the fantastic Secretariat team for all their support! Thanks as well to my outgoing colleagues - brothers in arms Daan and Zeno!”
Also today, ESPO has published its Annual Report 2023-2024, which outlines the organisation’s activities over the past year. A copy of the report can be found here.
In addition this evening, ESPO will disclose the winner of the ESPO Award 2024 on Societal integration during a ceremony and dinner being held at the Albert Hall in Brussels. The four projects shortlisted for this year’s Award are from Port of Antwerp-Bruges (Belgium), Port of Gothenburg (Sweden) and the Spanish ports of Huelva and the Port of Sevilla.
The winner will be announced around 10 pm tonight.
