Ports used to be places that connected people and culture, but now they are often seen as anonymous economic zones. This disconnect has led to incorrect public perceptions of ports. To reconnect with society, ports must increase knowledge about their activities, prioritize communication with people, and demonstrate their social and economic relevance. Effective communication strategies include actively engaging the community, highlighting the human aspects of ports, showcasing their social value, and making ports more accessible and transparent places.

1. Can communication save
our ports?
BPA Ports Conference, 6 and 7 October, 2010
Torquay, Devon, UK

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TinTin
The Sopranos
James Bond
Do you know what TinTin, The Sopranos
and James Bond have in common...?

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Quite often, problems are ‘solved’ in a port...

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This tells us something about ports and
their place in society. Ports used to be a
place where people and culture
connected. Towns and communities
grew and prospered around ports. Now
they seem to have become an
anonymous place and, in literature and
film, the ideal scene for all those things
that cannot bear the light of day. It is
only perception, but an important one.

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How do people view ports?
They are more closely connected to the
sea than to the mainland. With their
eyes on the economy and their backs to
society. This is an incorrect perception.
But still important. Because...

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If people think of ports, they often have this
image in mind...

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While reality looks like this...

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The question is what the best
image is, but in the past ports
definitely had a much more human face.
This is a problem we see in many of our
economic activities. A de-personalization of
economic processes. ‘Out of sight, out of
mind’. But apart from the romantic and
historic image of ports, we have never
understood how ports really work.

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We have to find out how we can
reconnect…
With society, with all stakeholders.

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But how do we reconnect with
society?
1. By increasing knowledge about port activity
in society

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But how do we reconnect with
society?
1. By increasing knowledge about port activity
in society
↓
2. By putting people first in port
communication

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But how do we reconnect with
society?
1. By increasing knowledge about port activity
in society
↓
2. By putting people first in port
communication
↓
3. By showing society the social and
economic relevance of ports

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↓
4. This increases social involvement

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↓
4. This increases social involvement
↓
5. And strengthens public support

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How can we achieve
this?

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1. By Actively approaching society
• Investing in mobile information units and
driving out to the target audience.

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For a project to make young people aware of
the job opportunities in the logistics sector and
in ports, we drove through Flanders in an
information lorry and visited 60 schools.
(Flemish government project)

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2. By showing human aspect:
We have to encourage people to be more
enthusiastic about logistics. But what do they
mean: a port, lorries and ships? Focus on the
people.

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3. By showing the social added value of
the port...
• That everything people use and consume on a
daily basis arrives in our stores via ports.
• That our economic system will collapse
without ports.
• We organized an ad campaign in Flanders.

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“Without Logistics, it is panic time”

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4. By adjusting the view that people have
based on their own experiences:
• Take a trip around the port in a speedboat,
visit a container park, etc.
• Turn it into an amusement park.

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5. By turning ports back into a social
meeting place instead of an anonymous
economic zone
• Why do we organize rock concerts on a field
when there is plenty of room in a port, with
lots of options for culture...
• Social activities in ports, bringing the port to
the people.
• Parks at the port.

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August 2010: Performing arts festival at the IJmuiden Port, Holland

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6. By using television formats
One very popular Flemish TV series centered
around a family with a business in the port
(and this was a family that was just as normal
as any other family...)

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7. By investing in an accessible website
• The website is an important window, which
gives society a view of the port.
• Websites are often intranets for internal
stakeholders and confirm their image of a
protected workplace, using jargon,
terminology and customs.
It is important to have separate websites for
the general public and for stakeholders.

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8. By making the vastness of a port more
tangible...
• Publish a 3D tool on the website to help
visitors navigate around the port…
• And click on companies, locks and other items
for more information…

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9. By offering information packages for
schools...
• Teach 12/13-year-olds what a port is… and
adjust preconceptions..
• Take the initiative and organize excursions to
the port.
• Give them the opportunity to navigate in a
ship simulator… or on a real ship.

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30. 10.What about open days?
• They are a first good step
• But shouldn’t be an alibi to stop
communicating the whole year round
• They are often only preaching to the choir

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All too often, ports have their backs turned
to society and focus on the sea...
...it is time to change.