A Chief Engineer of Bridges, Water and Forests, Antoine Berbain is Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of HAROPA PORT’s Paris Territorial Directorate and the Multimodality project.
Antoine Berbain began his career within the departmental equipment directorates of Pas-de-Calais and subsequently Loire-Atlantique. He successively managed a technical studies office serving local authorities, specialising in the development of business parks, and a territorial subdivision responsible for urban planning, road infrastructure and advisory services to local authorities in the Nantes metropolitan area. He then led the studies supporting the declaration of public utility for the Notre-Dame-des-Landes airport project before joining Voies navigables de France as Head of the Waterway Technical Department, in charge of the infrastructure-modernisation programme for the Seine navigable basin.
In 2010, Antoine Berbain joined the port sector as Director of Development at Ports de Paris. In 2014, he became Deputy Chief Executive Officer of GIE HAROPA —the economic interest grouping of the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris—, overseeing strategy, commercial development, multimodality development and communications. In March
2020? he was appointed Chief Executive Officer of HAROPA – Ports de Paris.
On 1 June 2021, Antoine Berbain took up his role at the Paris Territorial Directorate within the newly established “Greater River-Sea Port of the Seine Axis”, which has brought together the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris under a single entity since that date.
Maxime studied architecture in Grenoble (France), then graduated from PUC Campinas in Brazil and UCD (University College Dublin) in Dublin with a B.Arch (Hons).
He went on to work as an architect in various countries including UK, France and Brazil. He founded and led Architecture Republic in Dublin in 2005 before co-founding Urban Agency in 2013.
He was president of the Architectural Association of Ireland from 2005-06 and since 2006, he teaches Architecture and Urban Design at the School of Architecture University Limerick.
He is a member of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland and Ordre Des Architectes in France.
In the past few years Maxime has received numerous awards for excellence in Architectural Design including numerous AAI Awards, an Irish Concrete Society Award and was even named one of the ‘Top 40 European Architects under 40’ by the European Centre for Architecture, Art Design and Urban Studies. He also received a nomination for the prestigious Mies Van Der Rohe Awards in 2011 and 2019
Barbara Van der Steen is the founder and CEO of GFE, a company dedicated to waterfront safety solutions. She is also the founder of the Waterfront Safety Association, a knowledge and awareness platform focused on improving safety around water. For many years, she has worked at the intersection of ports, cities, marinas, and public waterfronts, promoting a proactive approach to drowning prevention and public safety. As waterfronts become increasingly integrated into urban life, bringing people closer to the water for work, leisure, and living, Barbara advocates for greater awareness of the associated safety challenges. Her work aims to foster a culture in which waterfront safety becomes a natural part of urban planning and public space design, much like fire safety is today.
