Port of Rotterdam CEO joins IAPH board as Europe vice-president

30 July 2026

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.

Founded in 1955, the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) has developed into a global alliance of 212 port authorities as well as 184 port-related businesses. Comprised of over 97 different nationalities across the world's continents, member ports handle over one third of the world's sea-borne trade and well over 60% of the world container traffic. Since 1967, the Association has represented port authorities and operators as the official UN-recognized consultative NGO of the International Maritime Organization, fostering industry collaboration and excellence. IAPH leads global port industry initiatives on decarbonisation and energy transition, risk and resilience management, and accelerating digitalisation in the maritime transport chain. The IAPH's World Ports Sustainability Program has grown into the reference database of best practices of ports applying the UN Sustainable Development Goals and integrating them into their businesses – www.iaphworldports.org/.