Hans Rook

Ambassador
IPCSA

Hans works in the  transport  and  logistics  sea  trade  sector for 52  years.

He started his career at a shipping agency and having gaining experience in all facets of  import and export services,  he  was appointed  to set  up the ICT  function in the company.  He is also one of the gurus on EDI standardization  –  he joined UN working groups  to establish UN/CEFACT EDIFACT messages for the global sea trade industry. Having been general manager ICT within the shipping agency, Hans was asked to join the Rotterdam group of experts for the set-up of the Port Community System in the Port of  Rotterdam.  Since then he has been working for Portbase Rotterdam until January 2019 when he retired.

The International Port Community Systems Association (IPCSA) has chalked up some remarkable achievements in the past years. Membership has increased to the point where IPCSA is now active and has members in every continent; IPCSA has continued to increase its influence at the highest levels; and IPCSA membership has expanded beyond port and cargo community systems to include Single Window operators.

All of this has been achieved under the dynamic chairmanship of Hans Rook, whose knowledge and expertise of community systems, IT and port logistics, built up over a 50-year career, is unrivalled. Hans handed over the chairmanship of IPCSA in February this year. The board of IPCSA have awarded him the honorable title of ambassador in gratitude for his years of dedication and representation of and for the members of IPCSA.

Hans is quite simply one of the visionaries in the development of new services to support the simplification of trade.

Hans, retired from Portbase Rotterdam as per 01-01-2019 were he was senior adviser at Portbase, the Port Community System in The Netherlands.

“We have a very broad scope of members, from those just starting out on Port Community Systems to those that have many decades’ experience. IPCSA successfully combines the two, so that members can learn from each other and help each other to facilitate trade.

Global trade facilitation is at the forefront of everything we do, and costs are being reduced due to the solutions our members develop and provide. As ambassador, I will represent IPCSA in moving forward as fast as possible but in a strategic way. IPCSA is respected at intergovernmental level, including at the UN and the IMO, and many decision makers receive and value our expertise”.