Roland Berger Malaysia head to appear at shipping conference in Cambodia

The Asean Ports & Shipping 2019 conference is set to dock in Cambodia next month – with Roland Berger Malaysia managing partner Anthonie Versluis among the speakers.

 Now into its 17th edition, the ASEAN Ports & Shipping conference will land in Cambodia in September, with over 500 delegates including government officials and freight, ports and logistics professionals expected to attend in what is described as the largest gathering of shipping industry executives in the region. Among the confirmed speakers; Anthonie Versluis, managing partner for Roland Berger Malaysia and head of the firm’s global ports practice.

Set to take place over the 10th to the 12th at NagaWorld in Phnom Penh, Versluis will kick off proceedings following the conference moderator’s opening remarks with an address on the “Future adaptation on global economic conditions and its effect on ASEAN trade growth”, before later moderating a session on “The future of ports in the Fourth Industrial Revolution”. Versluis has spent the majority of his thirty-plus year career based in Southeast Asia.

Starting out as a project manager for Arthur D. Little in Singapore in 1997, Versluis three years later joined Dutch engineering and management consultancy Arcadis as a senior technical advisor (Versluis holds an MSc in Industrial Management from the University of Twente, together with having since completed Harvard Business School Executive Education), initially posted in Jakarta before a detour to the Caribbean.  

In 2000, Versluis returned to the region as a Director of Southeast Asia Strategy & Transformation with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (Capgemini’s consulting division as of last year operates under the integrated brand Capgemini Invent), before crossing for a second stint with ADL, this time as an Associate Director based in Kuala Lumpur with additional responsibilities in the Middle East. In 2011 he joined Roland Berger.  

At the firm (where in Malaysia he is joined by recently promoted senior partner John Low), Versluis serves clients throughout Asia in the energy, chemicals, transportation and government sectors on issues relating to strategy, logistics & shipping, infrastructure development, corporate & business strategy, and management and restructuring among other areas. He returns to the annual Asean Ports & Shipping event following an appearance in Johor last year.

According to the conference organisers, Transport Events, Versluis has over his career managed or directed approximately 50 port development projects in Malaysia, China, Indonesia, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Europe and various countries of the Caribbean. He will feature among 30 speakers in total, including Red Sea Gateway Terminal director for global investments Gagan Seksaria – a former associate director in the transport & logistics practice of KPMG India.

“PPAP and PAS are delighted to host this event in our vibrant city of Phnom Penh,” said Lou Hei Bavy and Kim Chhun, the respective CEOs of the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS, which handles 70 percent of Cambodia’s imports and exports). “There will be commercial opportunities for sixty exhibitors and sponsors to network directly with the delegates at this major international maritime event for the Asean region.”