Speakers 2024
Frederik ERDMANN
Moderator and contributing correspondent Shippax
Frederik Erdmann is a Shippax correspondent since 1996 and professionally involved with shipping since 1999 when he joined the German port agency network, Sartori & Berger, on a vocational training program. After his graduation as Shipbroker & Liner Agent and subsequent studies of Business Administration, Frederik held various positions with Sartori & Berger until 2010. After a period of working for the Flensburg Chamber of Commerce, he belonged to the management team of Wyker Dampfschiffs-Reederei, one of Germany's leading domestic operators, from 2015 to 2021, with responsibilities among others for safety/security as well as for environmental, quality and pandemic management. He has since become self-employed as consultant with a focus on Passenger Ship Management, Hazardous Cargo Transport and HazMat. Frederik is also a permanent visiting lecturer at the Flensburg University of Applied Sciences, teaching in the Maritime Transport, Nautical Sciences & Logistics as well as the Ship Operation Engineering degree programmes. He regularly contributes to maritime business publications in the UK, Scandinavia and Greece, and is a member of the Tourism Committee as well as the Transport & Infrastructure Committee of the Flensburg Chamber of Commerce.
Frederik is married to Beate, a nautical officer with extensive seafaring experience on both ferries and cruise ships, and lives in Rügge near Flensburg. He is active in municipal politics as well as in the local voluntary fire service. Complementing to his professional involvement in shipping, Frederik is passionate about ferry designs from the late 1950s to the early 1980s, with the 1982-built ODIN and the two years younger FRIGG SYDFYEN being his favourite ferries. He owns a collection of ship models, and is also a diorama modelmaker himself. Besides, Frederik is passionate about motorcycles and loves riding his BMW G 310 GS - even as his preferred mode of transport in everyday life.
Alan LAM
Co-moderator and correspondent and analyst Shippax
Based in Hong Kong and Austria, Alan Lam is a freelance journalist and maritime transport business researcher. He has been collaborating with Shippax for more than a decade, regularly contributing articles to both its monthly and yearly publications. He also writes for other shipping publications worldwide and compile customised market reports for investors, lenders, and suppliers.
Robert CLIFFORD
Chairman Incat
Robert Clifford, founder and Chairman of the Incat group of companies has been credited with pioneering the world’s high-speed vehicle/passenger ferry industry.
Over more than five decades he has steered Incat to progress from boats to small commercial ferries through to very large ocean-going vehicle carrying wave piercing catamarans for which Incat is now world renowned.
The vessels delivered to date operate on marine distillate or LNG however Incat’s research team now focus on low emission fuels with the goal of zero emission vessels.
Mike CORRIGAN
CEO Interferry
Mike Corrigan is CEO of Interferry, the trade association that represents the worldwide ferry industry. Mike’s focus leading Interferry is to ensure that it continues to be the voice of the worldwide ferry industry in matters of safety and operational best practices, is the industry’s voice with regulatory agencies such as IMO, and that the trade association’s value continues to grow for existing and new members.
Mike brings to his position of CEO of Interferry extensive executive experience in the ferry industry, most recently as the CEO of BC Ferries, one of the world’s largest ferry operators. During Mike’s tenure with BC Ferries, the company became recognized as a world leader in safety and operational excellence, set record earnings levels, invested $2 Billion in ships and terminals, and established itself as an employee-centric company earning top employer recognition.
Mike has an MBA from the University of Victoria. Prior to his business career, he played professional hockey in the Detroit Red Wings organization. He resides in Victoria, Canada with his wife Shari.
Anne-Marie EKLUND LÖWINDER
Leading IT security expert
Anne-Marie Eklund Löwinder is one of Sweden’s leading experts on information and IT security. In 2013 Anne-Marie was the first Swede to be inducted into the Internet Hall of Fame. For almost 20 years she was the Chief Information Security Officer at The Swedish Internet Foundation. Currently, she is the founder and CEO of her own company Amelsec.
She is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), Section XII, Information Technology. She is also a board member of the Swedish Law and Informatics Research Institute (IRI), the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket), the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), and the Irish top level domain registry authority, .IE. Anne-Marie is also a member of the information security council of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB). She is appointed by the Swedish Ministry of Infrastructure as a member of the Swedish National Digitalisation Council.
In 2010 Anne-Marie was appointed and still serves as Trusted Community Representative by ICANN, in the role as Crypto Officer, where she participates in the generation of DNSSEC signing keys for the internet root zone. She is also a member of The Registry Services Technical Evaluation Panel (RSTEP), a technical team under the GNSO (Generic Name Supporting Organization).
Anne-Marie has a degree in Computer Science from the University of Stockholm.
Håkan ENLUND
EVP, Sales and Marketing Rauma Marine Constructions
Håkan Enlund graduated as M.Sc. (Applied Mechanics) from the University of Oulu, Faculty of Technology. His career started 1981 with the performance yacht builder Baltic Yachts. Within the Hollming group he was the key person in establishing the new Materials Technology Division, where he took on the management responsibility for the fairing hulls of the MIR I and II deep-sea submersible research vessels project. Mr. Enlund has in his 35 year carrier in the Shipbuilding Industry, carried management responsibilities for car and passenger ferries as well as special vessel technology development and sales. He is one of the key executive persons in Rauma Marine Constructions Oy since the new shipbuilding company’s beginning in 2014. Mr Enlund holds positions of trust as board member of Interferry, chairman of the DNV Ferry Committee and advisory board member of the Aalto University, Research Centre of Excellence for Arctic Shipping and Operations.
Mike HOWIE
Regional Sales Manager Trelleborg Marine and Infrastructure
Mike Howie joined Trelleborg in February 2022 as Regional Sales Manager for Docking and Mooring. With extensive experience in automated mooring systems, he began working on automated mooring products in 2003 as a designer and developer, during which he spent much of his time in ports working on prototypes for commercial, ship-to-ship and military applications.
Mike's role has since expanded to encompass product development, implementation challenges and solutions analysis, front-line sales and market entry strategy development, and the management of an automated mooring intellectual property portfolio.
Before transitioning into automated mooring, he had extensive experience in the wood processing industry, primarily automating hazardous tasks previously performed manually.
Mike holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and an executive MBA.
Marcus HÖGBLOM
Vice President of Global Sales ABB Marine & Ports
Marcus Högblom is heading the Passenger ship segment ABB Marine & Ports, the leading supplier of electric propulsion systems for merchant vessels. Joining ABB Propulsion product business unit in 2009 Mr Högblom has been working with building ABB successful track record for electrical propulsion starting with Azipod propulsion but now also extending to cover next generation integrated solutions for power convection, automatization, digitalization, energy storage and service offering.
An experienced marine professional with a long experience in management, business development, project management, sales and marketing and. Mr Högblom holds a degree of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Helsinki Institute of applied sciences.
Prior to joining ABB Marcus had a 14 year long carrier in the field of fire safety with Marioff Corporation and United Technologies where he held various positions the most recent as General Manager for the Marine and Offshore unit.
Paavo NÕGENE
CEO Tallink Grupp
Chairman of the Management Board since 01.05.2018, Chief Executive Officer.
Secretary-General, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Estonia, from 2013 to 2018. General Manager of Vanemuine Theatre, Estonia from 2007 to 2012. Chairman of the Supervisory Boards of the Art Museum of Estonia, the Estonian Film Institute, Estonian Drama Theatre and Vanemuine Theatre. Member of the Supervisory Boards of Estonian Public Broadcasting, Estonian National Opera, the Gambling Tax Council. Graduated from the University of Tartu, Estonia, in 2012 with a degree in Journalism and Communications.
Achille ONORATO
Vice chairman Moby S.p.A and CEO Moby S.p.A
Mr. Achille Onorato, the eldest son of Vincenzo Onorato, represents a fifth-generation shipowner. He graduated in Business Administration at Bocconi University in Milan. He later received his Master in Logistics and Transport Infrastructure at Bocconi.
Even before his degree, he already participated actively in the business of the company, working on board of ships of the fleet of the family alternately to studies from the age of 13 years old until the end of university, spending on board a total of more than three years. He then later started to work in the commercial area of the group and then became the Hospitality and Onboard Services Director of the company Moby SpA.
On January 2012 he became the CEO of the company Toremar, first public shipping company that was privatized in Italy, achieving a radical turnover, revolution and innovation of the company.
Mr. Achille Onorato has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Moby and Tirrenia – CIN since 2015 and he has also served as the sole director of both companies from its formation until its conversation into a joint stock company and the subsequent appointment of the Board of Directors.
On July 2015 Mr. Achille Onorato has become the Vice Executive Chairman of Moby SpA and subsequently in April 2016 he became the Chief Executive Officer and in the same time he still keeps the position of Vice Executive Chairman of the company. Mr. Achille Onorato is also the Vice Chairman of Assarmatori, the most representative Italian ship owner association.
In addition to the shipowner's family tradition, just like his father, he has also the passion for sailing on regattas.
Summary of Current Position in the Company:
- Moby CEO and Vice Executive Chairman
- Chairman of the BoD of Toremar
- BoD Member of San Cataldo
- Chairman of Agemar and Renzo Conti srl
Bruce PETER
Professor of Design History at the Glasgow School of Art
Bruce Peter is Professor of Design History at the Glasgow School of Art. He has a life-long interest in merchant ship design and passenger shipping operation and has written extensively on these subjects. His latest maritime publications are a history of the Danish liner, ferry and logistics company, DFDS, and a history of Tor Line, which DFDS purchased in 1981. He is also currently working with colleagues in Finland on a history of Finnish shipbuilding, has written for the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) a book about the design of the Kappel propeller and is assisting the Victoria & Albert Museum in London to curate an exhibition about ocean liner travel.
Johan ROOS
Director of Regulatory Affairs, Interferry
Johan Roos is the Director of Regulatory Affairs for the trade association Interferry. He holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Between 2011 and 2019 he ran the Interferry Brussels office and currently oversees all of Interferry’s involvement with the International Maritime Organization and the European Union. Johan works in close relation with the European Community Shipowners Association, the International Chamber of Shipping and other maritime interest groups.
Martti SIMOJOKI
Senior Loss Prevention Manager Alandia
Martti Simojoki is Senior Loss Prevention Manager from Alandia. In addition, he is a member of the CEFOR Technical Forum and the IUMI Loss Prevention Committee. He has 28 years of experience within the shipping industry, both onboard and ashore. Martti is Captain with an Executive MBA in Shipping and Logistics and he is passionate about the work with professional safety culture. Martti Simojoki is subject matter expert in Alternative Fuel Vehicle transports and fires within the PCTC and Ro-Ro/-PAX segments.
Brian THORSTED HANSEN
CEO Fjord Line
2021 – CEO Fjord Line AS
2006-2020 – Vice President, DFDS A/S
2017-2020 - VICE PRESIDENT - HEAD OF BUSINESS UNIT GROUP PASSENGER, DFDS A/S
2012-2017 - VICE PRESIDENT - HEAD OF B.U. PASSENGER & GROUP MARKETING, DFDS A/S
2006-2012 - VICE PRESIDENT - SALES, MARKETING & DISTRIBUTION, DFDS A/S
2002-2006 – MANAGING DIRECTOR – GLOBAL REFUND SVERIGE AB & GLOBAL REFUND DANMARK A/S
1996-2002 – DIRECTOR, SEB KORT AB
Per WESTLING
Managing Director Stena RoRo
Per Westling has been employed by Stena since 1985. In addition to a M.Sc. degree in Naval Architecture from Chalmers Technical University of Gothenburg, Sweden, Per is trained as an Engineer within the Royal Swedish Navy. Within the Stena group he has been project manager for several newbuildings and major conversion projects but also served for five years within the Stena Line Shipmanagement division. In 2001 he moved to Stena RoRo as Conversion Manager, took on the role of Deputy Managing Director in 2008 and subsequently Managing Director in 2011. Mr Westling is since 2013 a board member of Interferry Inc.
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