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MEL Graduation Class of 2006
On Wednesday the 25th of October, 38 MEL
graduates from 21 different countries received their degrees in a well-attended
ceremony at the University’s Large Auditorium. As every year, the Corps Diplomatique, Consular Officers and other foreign country representatives, and
the crème de la crème of the Dutch maritime and port cluster frequented MEL’s
most important event. Keynote speaker and guest of honour was Basil
Papachristidis, Chairman of the Hellespont Group, who, in an impressive speech
on transportation in the global economy, challenged graduates with the requisite
traits of the global manager. Guest Speaker, John Verschelden, Vice President of
APM Terminals International, explained to students and audience why, today,
‘container terminal business’ is “the” business to be (the two speeches and the
Graduation Press Release are available from the MEL Office upon request).
MAERSK LINE Best MEL Thesis Award
The Maersk Group has always been a strong supporter of MEL. For years now it
awards the Maersk Line Best MEL Thesis Award at the MEL Graduation Ceremony. The
Award is meant to reward outstanding young talent and attract such talent to the
maritime industry. It also seeks to increase awareness of the importance of
maritime transport for the global economy and international trade. This year,
the Award was presented by Maarten Tromp, Director, Intermodal and Equipment -
Central Europe. The Award was a two-way tie: Recipients were Jeremy Kee of
Singapore for his work on ‘Optimum container ship size for the South-east Asia
trade in 2015’ and Norwegian Morten Bérard-Andersen for his thesis, Strategic
Sealift in Europe and the Future of the RO-RO Market.
The NOL/APL Prize for
Student Excellence
Since the inception of MEL, Neptune Orient Line/American
President Line of Singapore is awarding the NOL/APL Prize for Student
Excellence. The Inaugural (2001) Prize was awarded by Flemming Jacobs himself,
then Group President and CEO (for the list of past recipients, see:(www.maritimeeconomics.com/alumni_NOLAPL.htm).
The 2006 Prize was awarded to Lambros Klaoudatos (Greece) by Mr. Peter Jongepier,
Managing Director APL Benelux.
MEL delivers its 6th Management
Trainee Program at NOL Singapore
The MEL-NOL cooperation continues strong for six
years now. In July, the new batch of Management Trainees had two intensive weeks
of classes on Shipping Management and Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
Classes were given by Hercules Haralambides and Michele Acciaro (shipping
management), and Rommert Dekker (Logistics and SCM). Since the inception of MEL,
Neptune Orient Line (NOL) awards the NOL Prize for Student Excellence at MEL
Graduation. At this point, MEL would like to seize the opportunity to wish well
to the company’s new CEO, Dr. Thomas Held. We are certain that under his
leadership NOL will continue to excel amongst the top container carriers and his
cooperation with MEL will continue strong, same as with his two predecessors,
Flemming Jacobs and David Lim who have both visited MEL in the past.
NOL Fellowship Research
The NOL Fellowship Board has granted funding to
MEL and Singapore Management University, for a joint research project on Product
Bundling in Liner and Logistics Business. The NOL Fellowship is an initiative
launched in February 2006 by Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who is
the Patron for the Fellowship. The Fellowship has been seeded by a large
contribution from NOL and the Singapore Government to bring about
multi-disciplinary, applied research among centers of excellence in universities
and research institutes internationally, to enhance knowledge and expertise in
the field of global cargo transportation and logistics.
MEL Internships
In 2006, the very high demand on MEL students for
summer internships did not allow us to satisfy all internship requests by our
Corporate Network members. Worth mentioning here is that the great majority of
the Class of 2006 had attractive job offers well before they graduated. Among
many others, in 2006 internship hosts included: Port of Rotterdam; ECT; APM
Terminals; DVB Bank, ING Bank; APL Logistics; Ceres Paragon Terminal; Deloitte;
Smit International; UNCTAD, BIMCO. On Wednesday, January 10, 2007, the Class of
2007 will be looking forward to meeting Corporate Network members at our New
Year’s Reception. This is the first opportunity for students and CN members to
interact, over a glass of wine, on thesis subjects and internship possibilities.
The NY Reception will take place in our Faculty Club, 17th Floor, H-Building,
Burgemeester Oudlaan 50. Time: 18h00. Speaker: Professor Han van Dissel,
Dean-Rotterdam School of Management.
The MEL Distinguished Lecture Series
(DLS) 2006
For the 14th year in a row, the MEL DLS lined up
again an impressive array of speakers including no less than seven CEOs! The
complete 2006 DLS programme can be seen at:
www.maritimeeconomics.com/ems_intro.htm.
The 2007 programme will soon be announced and, as
always, the seminars are open to members of our Corporate Network.
Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) launches
joint scholarships with MEL
Students of MEL studies of Singaporean
Universities are now eligible to apply for scholarships to pursue the MEL
Master’s at Erasmus. In March 2005, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed
between the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) and MEL to jointly launch the
SMF-MEL Maritime Scholarships. The Scholarships epitomize and solidify the good
and long-standing cooperation between SMF and MEL, and aim to attract young
outstanding talent to the maritime industry as well as to raise awareness on the
importance of maritime transport for the global economy and international trade.
Under the MoU, two full scholarships are offered to Singaporean citizens every
year. The two inaugural SMF-MEL Scholars were Ms. Ju Gek Pan and Mr. Kong Yew
(Jeremy) Kee. Both students completed MEL 2006 successfully – Jeremy even
received the MEL Best Thesis Award – and have returned to Singapore to further
their professional careers in the Maritime Industry. MEL is positive that the
two scholars of 2007, Mr. Edwin Leong and Mr. Jarrod Ho, will be equally
successful.
Chinese Scholarship by the Dutch
Ministry of Transport
In 2003, Ms. Karla Peijs, Dutch Minister of
Transport, Public Works and Water Management, visited China and signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with her counterpart at the Chinese Ministry of
Communications. As part of this MoU, highly skilled MoC officials are selected
to study at MEL. The first scholar, Ms. Hongbin Zhang, successfully completed
MEL in 2005 and returned to China to further her career at the Ministry of
Communications. Her follow up, Mr. Yan Fei, joined MEL in November 2006. MEL
wishes to express its appreciation to the Ministry of Transport for their
continuous support. We fully recognize the significance of this scholarship both
for our Center as well as for the maritime industry by and large.
New MEL course in Maritime Law
In May, MEL offered a Professional Development
Course (PDC) in Maritime Law, in cooperation with the prestigious Institute of
Maritime Law-University of Southampton. The Institute of Maritime Law is a
leading center for teaching, research and consultancy in maritime law,
international trade and marine insurance since its establishment in 1982.
Following a most successful delivery, a Letter of Intention (LoI) was exchanged
between the two Schools according to which the Southampton Institute will be
delivering a now structural course in maritime law to MEL in the future.
New MEL course in Marine Technology
and Shipping Innovation
A new and highly demanded course in Marine
Technology and Shipping Innovation was introduced in 2006. The course is jointly
offered by Professor Arie Aalbers of the Technical University of Delft and
Professor Niko Wijnolst, Chairman of the Dutch Maritime Network.
Public Financing and Charging
Practices of European Seaports Study
MEL researchers have been involved in a
high-level project for the European Commission, under the above title. As
partner of a large European consortium, MEL was responsible for the Netherlands;
Cyprus; Sweden; Latvia; Lithuania and Estonia. The recently concluded study
aimed at getting better insights into ‘support’ policies in the European port
sector, by collecting information on the financing and charging practices in the
EU. Among the results of the study was the quantification of public financing of
port infrastructure both on country level as well as for a number of ports and
their charging structures.
MEL Research for European Liner
Affairs Association (ELAA)
There is still uncertainty among many, on the
ways freight additionals and surcharges are calculated, and there are
conflicting positions among stakeholders in the debate on how to treat such
charges in the future. These were amongst the findings of a MEL study for the
European Liner Affairs Association (ELAA). The research sought to ascertain
understanding of and attitudes towards terminal handling charges (THC) among
both terminal operators and shippers and consignees. It also reviewed with cargo
owners the system of adjustment factors for both currency and fuel costs.
MEL Graduate Truong Bui Contributes
to UNCTAD Publication
Quite often, theses of MEL students find their
way in various publications, newsletters, journals, etc. One such thesis
“Determinants of liner shipping connectivity with a special focus on Latin
America” by Truong Bui, MEL 2005, appeared in UNCTAD’s Transport Newsletter No
31. Truong did his internship in Geneva, under the coaching of Dr. Jan Hoffmann,
MEL Visiting Professor, where he also wrote most of the above thesis. After
graduation, Truong joined VOPAK Singapore.
IAME Melbourne
MEL’s Director (HE Haralambides) was one of the
founding members of the International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME)
15 years ago, as well as Treasurer, Newsletter Editor and Vice President. Since
then, MEL staff is invariably present in all IAME events. Last July in
Melbourne, Michele Acciaro represented MEL presenting research on European Port
Policy in the Baltic States. The Prize for the runner up paper was awarded by
the quarterly Maritime Economics and Logistics (www.palgrave-journals.com/mel),
edited at Erasmus. The prize went to Professor Pierre Cariou a researcher, for
long associated with MEL.
Port Economics Specialist joins MEL
Dr. Koi Yu (Adolf) NG joined MEL in June as
Assistant Professor, after having successfully defended his PhD at the
University of Oxford, UK, on the Theory and Structure of Port Competition. His
MPhil Port Reform, Operations and Governance at the University of Hong Kong was
awarded the 'Outstanding Geography Thesis of the Year' (2002-3). Dr. Ng's core
research interests and publications include: port competition and governance;
short sea shipping and multimodal supply chains; shipping networks and
alliances. Since 2003, Dr. Ng has prepared various maritime transport-related
consulting reports for organizations such as ECT (Competitiveness of Port of
Rotterdam in Container Transhipment) and the European Investment Bank (The
Competitiveness of Short Sea Shipping between Western and Eastern Europe). In
2007, Dr. Ng, jointly with Dr. Elvira Haezendonck of the University of Brussels
and many experts of the Port of Rotterdam, will give our Core Course in Port
Economics and Policy. The contribution of the Port of Rotterdam to this course
cannot be stressed hard enough: in addition to lecturing, this includes the
hosting of summer internships, port tours and various other visits and
activities.
Diederik Legger Joins MEL
Diederik Legger MSc (37), a graduate from Erasmus
University Rotterdam, joined (part-time) MEL in March 2006. Diederik is also the
Managing Director of Rolldock, a newly established company specialized in
maritime transportation of heavy and large-volume cargoes. Diederik joined MEL
as liaison officer between MEL and industry. He is responsible for organizing
company presentations, providing lectures, arranging internships and introducing
students to industry experts to help them with the writing of their theses.
Yvo Saanen Adjunct Faculty at MEL
Dr. Yvo A. Saanen, Managing Director of TBA B.V.
(www.tba.nl)
joined MEL as adjunct faculty. Yvo received his PhD on the design and simulation
of robotized container terminals (Delft University of Technology) and is one of
the world’s leading authorities in terminal design, automation and optimization.
Yvo teaches in the MEL Maritime Logistics Core Course jointly with Maersk Line
and Europe Container Terminals (ECT).
Koen Berden
On the 30th of November, Koen Berden successfully defended his PhD thesis
entitled “On Technology, Uncertainty and Economic Growth”. Koen has been
teaching at MEL for years now as lecturer both in the Induction Course (Micro &
Macro Economics) and the Core Course of International Economics. In 2002-2003
Koen was elected as Lecturer of the Year.
MEL attends TOC 2006 Europe
(30
May 2006 – 1 June 2006, Hamburg)
The 30th anniversary of TOC Europe was held at the fascinating port city of
Hamburg from 30th May to 1st June with the underlying focus on sustainable
growth and the need for innovation. Our students were very much in the midst of
this significant international event and were introduced by the Conference
Editorial Director, Rachael White, in her opening address as “the future leaders
and managers” of the maritime industry, urging the delegates to encourage and
interact actively with our students. The students of MEL 2006 were also
entrusted with writing summaries of the conference proceedings for publication
by Informa Maritime and Transport.
With a
strong understanding of the current issues facing the maritime industry, the
students actively questioned and probed the guest speakers and at times even
impressed with their superior analysis of the facts. The event served as a huge
platform for our students to voice and test ideas and principles that were
presented in the classroom. It also was a great networking opportunity with many
prospective employers showing a keen interest in the curriculum and background
that MEL represents.
MEL participates in International Sports Day
On
Saturday, the 25th of March, MEL students and staff participated in the 25th
annual International Students Sports Day held at the Technical University Delft.
In this one-day sports competition for international students studying in the
Netherlands, MEL took part in soccer, basketball, badminton, table tennis and
volleyball. MEL posted several strong finishes, including a second prize in
basketball and third prize in soccer.
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