Die all about ports (aap) öffnet 2026 erstmals ihre Türen: Am 2. und 3. September 2026 findet die neue internationale Fachkonferenz parallel zur SMM im CCH – Congress Center Hamburg statt.
Im Mittelpunkt der aap stehen die drängenden Zukunftsfragen der globalen Hafenwirtschaft: Digitalisierung, Nachhaltigkeit, Sicherheit und Logistik sowie die wachsende Rolle von Häfen als Energie-, Sicherheits- und Logistikhubs.
Das DMZ ist mit einem Stand vor Ort (Halle H, Stand 210) und ist außerdem als Programmpartner aktiv am Messeprogramm beteiligt (alle Veranstaltungen finden auf Englisch statt):
02. September 2026, 14:05-14:50 Uhr
Panel: Geopolitics at the Port Gate: Security, Resilience and Strategic Dependencies
Transformation and Resilience Stage
Ports are critical nodes for trade, military logistics, energy supply, and digital infrastructure. This makes them prime targets for armed attacks, sabotage, cyber-attacks, espionage, and financial influence. The risks extend beyond individual terminals to entire supply chains and national security. Port security is therefore no longer only an operational task. It requires coordinated governance across authorities, operators, logistics actors, and international partners, and it forces hard choices about investment, access, and competitiveness. This panel brings together perspectives from Europe and the Gulf – two regions confronting these challenges from different angles, with different urgencies, but with growing shared interests. The panel asks: how do we keep our ports resilient, competitive, and connected – when threats come from many different directions?
02. September 2026, 16:05-17:00 Uhr
Panel: Compete, Connect, Transform: Rethinking Port Competitiveness
Transformation and Resilience Stage
Ports are much more than cargo gateways – they are strategic nodes in global trade, regional development, and industrial transformation. In an increasingly competitive and fast-changing international environment, ports must balance cost pressures, regulatory demands, infrastructure needs, and growing expectations around sustainability, digitalization, and resilience to stay attractive for their customers. At the same time, they are shaped not only by competition, but also by cooperation across supply chains, regions, and international partnerships.
This panel brings together perspectives from ports, customers, and academia to explore the factors that determine port choice and competitiveness today and in the future. The discussion will examine what drives performance across different port types, how port choice influences supply chain decisions and which emerging challenges are most critical for keeping up in a rapidly evolving global market.
02. September 2026, 16:05-16:55 Uhr
Panel: Short Sea Shipping 2035: Navigating the Transition to a Sustainable and Competitive Future
Energy and Sustainability Stage
How can ports and shipping companies make the transition to efficient and sustainable Short Sea Shipping and Port Operations a reality by 2035? The transition is gathering pace, but it comes with significant challenges for ports and shipping companies. They face long-term and costly transformation processes while having to respond to increasing regulatory pressure, including the EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime, as well as considerable market uncertainty surrounding future fuels.
With three port representatives and one shipping company representative, the panel will explore the key challenges facing maritime stakeholders: Who is expected to invest, and when? How can the risks and costs of the transition be shared? And how should stakeholders respond to uncertain fuel availability, changing regulations and evolving market conditions? The discussion will also focus on the respective roles of ports, shipping companies and other partners in driving the transition. What should efficient and sustainable port operations look like in 2035, and which measures are needed today to make this vision a reality while safeguarding reliability and competitiveness?
03. September 2026, 10:35-11:00 Uhr
Dialog: Funding the Future: Navigating Europe’s Maritime Landscape for Port Ecosystems
Transformation and Resilience Stage
Europe’s port ecosystems are at a turning point and navigating the maritime landscape for EU funding has never been more critical. This session opens with a compact presentation packed with facts and figures on EU funding opportunities for ports and logistics. Helena Rapp (DMZ) and Jaap Gebraad (Waterborne TP) then dive into a candid dialogue on the real chances and challenges of EU funding, kicking off from the EU Port Strategy and its compelling premise: innovation as a competitive factor.
Together, they will navigate key funding streams and unpack the Waterborne Technology Roadmap for Port Ecosystems and, drawing on hands-on experience from the Zero Emission Waterborne Transport Partnership (ZEWT) in Horizon Europe, explore the role of partnerships as an enabler in both funding journeys and the wider innovation chain. This dialogue-format session turns complexity into clarity and shows what funding opportunities – from major EU programmes to tools like the Maritimer Förderkompass Europa – are realistically within reach for port ecosystems across Europe.
Das gesamte Messeprogramm können Sie hier einsehen. Die Teilnahme an der aap ist im SMM-Ticket inbegriffen.