North Sea Port appoints Dutchman Cas König as new CEO

North Sea Port has appointed Dutchman Cas König as its new CEO, the company announced on Tuesday. König will take over in June from Daan Schalck, who resigned last year for personal reasons.

In 2018, the Dutch port of Zeeland merged with the Flemish port of Ghent to form North Sea Port. The port is home to around 550 companies, providing more than 100,000 jobs and playing a crucial role in Western European industry and logistics.

Despite its importance, North Sea Port had been looking for a CEO since October last year, when Daan Schalck decided to step down. Schalck, who had led the Ghent port since 2009 and continued as CEO after the merger in 2018, said he left the position for "personal reasons".

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Experience in sustainability

After several months of searching, the port has finally found his successor: Dutchman Cas König will replace Schalck in June this year. König, 58, is currently CEO of Groningen Seaports and has extensive experience in sustainability and business. A good match for North Sea Port, which aims to become completely CO2-neutral by 2050.

Sustainability is the biggest challenge facing North Sea Port at the moment, says König. For example, the port is home to the Ghent plant of steelmaker ArcelorMittal, one of Belgium's biggest CO2 emitters. The company's plans to green the plant are at risk, which could jeopardise both the company's and the port's climate targets.

"For all seaports, greening is very important, especially with the industries and logistics involved," says König. For ArcelorMittal, he sees promise in hydrogen. "The steel industry has huge greening challenges, and hydrogen could be a solution."

"The steel industry has huge greening challenges, and hydrogen could be a solution"

Despite rising geopolitical tensions, trade wars and economic uncertainty, König sees a positive future for North Sea Port. "Ports are in a strong position, especially when it comes to supplying renewable energy."

^{#FlandersNewsService | Cas König (R), speaking as CEO of Groningen Seaports. © ANP VINCENT JANNINK}

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