Blue Spaces in Port Cities: Welcoming Re-emerging Leisure Uses while Ensuring Safe Coexistence

Antoine BERBAIN

Directeur Général Délégué

HAROPA PORT - Direction Territoriale de Paris

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.

Ángel PULIDO HERNANDEZ

Director

AUTORIDAD PORTUARIA DE SEVILLA

Mr. Angel Pulido has been the CEO of the Seville Port Authority since November 2014. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Civil Engineering in Madrid. He also holds an Executive MBA (2008-2010) from IESE Business School and a Master's degree in Port Engineering and Management (2000-2001) from the University of Civil Engineering in Catalonia. He was Director of Infrastructure at the Seville Port Authority from 2012 to 2014 and Director of Sustainable Development Planning from 2004 to 2012. He worked for SPIM as an engineering consultant from 2003 to 2004. He also worked for PROINTEC in the Ports and Coasts Department from 2002 to 2003.

Moderator

Barbara VAN DER STEEN

Directrice Générale

GFE - GENERAL FLOATING EQUIPMENT B.V

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.