At the Round-table conference on 'Development of Maritime Trade, Transport and Tourism - Vision XXI Century' organised by the University of Gdansk and held in Sopot (Poland) on 29-30 October 2004 ITMMA was represented by two young researchers, namely visiting Ph.D. Researcher Mr. Jean-François Cappuccilli from the University of Montreal and Research Associate Mr. Filip Merckx from the University of Antwerp - ITMMA. The strong relations between the University of Antwerp and the University of Gdansk date back to the rearly 1980's and up till now resulted in five joint academic books on port and maritime issues. While Poland went through dramatic transformations from a planned economy under the Soviet regime to a member country of the European Union, the co-operation between the two universities remained a constant.

The ITMMA delegation was warmly welcomed by the Vice-President and Director Port Development and integration with European Union of the Gdynia Port Authority to exchange ideas about the prospects of port co-operation in the Baltic Sea region.

The following papers were presented at the round-table conference:

CAPPUCCILLI, J-F., 2004, Port regionalisation in the Baltic Sea: Prospects for co-operation, Roundtable conference on Development of Maritime Trade, Transport and Tourism - Vision XXI Century (Sopot - Poland), University of Gdansk, 29 October 2004, Poster session

MERCKX, F., NOTTEBOOM, T., WINKELMANS, W., 2004, Waterfront redevelopment: Re-establishing the link between city and port, Round-table conference on Development of Maritime Trade, Transport and Tourism - Vision XXI Century (Sopot - Poland), University of Gdansk, ISBN 83-89786-08-7, p. 105-126

Mr. Jean-François Cappuccilli impressed the audience with his relevant Ph.D. research on Port regionalisation in the Baltic Sea. In his presentation he challenged the representatives of the Port authorities of Gdansk and Gdynia with the prospects of co-operation.

Mr. Filip Merckx presented a theoretical framework for (port) authorities to evaluate the feasibility of waterfront redevelopment projects. The concept has been applied to waterfront projects in the Port of Antwerp and the port of Gdynia.

 
Mr. Jean-François Cappuccilli

 
Mr. Filip Merckx

 
From left to right: Prof. Dr. hab. Janusz Zurek (co-organiser of Round-table conference and Vice Director of Institute of Maritime Transport and Seaborne Trade, University of Gdansk), Mr. Janusz Jarosinski (Vice-President, Port Authority of Gdynia), Mr. Jean-François Cappuccilli (first visiting Ph.D. Researcher at ITMMA, University of Montreal), Mr. Filip Merckx (Research Associate, University of Antwerp - ITMMA) and Krzysztof Gromadowski (Director Port Development and integration with European Union, Port Authority of Gdynia)