For five years, at the request of Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Joris Thys has been general manager of the port of Cotonou in Benin (West Africa). His latest biggest job is already successful: “The organisation is on its feet and the port is in full development.”
Thys recently received a visit from ‘his’ Bruges mayor. “Dirk De fauw is chairman of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges International department. That helps develop other ports and is highly regarded worldwide for its courses in Antwerp. The mayor of Bruges and vice-president of Port of Antwerp-Bruges met our local directors here, went along on the tugs and saw how the Benin government appreciates our work.”
Joris Thys (65) was born in Veurne and studied industrial sciences at VTI Bruges. He became an agricultural engineer at the University of Ghent, specialising in agricultural economics and sociology of developing countries. This was followed by a year of sociology of non-western countries at Leiden University (Netherlands). From 1983 to 1987, he was an assistant at the University of Antwerp in the field of landscape parks and rural economics.
International career
In early 1987, he landed in the port world. “I became terminal manager at Seaport Terminals in Antwerp. From 1991 I worked in Zeebrugge: first for three years as terminal manager of CAST, then a container terminal in the inner port, and from 1995 to the end of 1999 as director of operations of Flanders Container Terminal, then a terminal on the west side of the old port channel.”
After the millennium change, Thys moved out into the world. “I was assigned by Seaport Terminals to international port projects, mainly in South America. From 2001 to early 2011, I was allowed to start up a new container terminal in Uruguay’s capital Montevideo as chairman and managing director (CEO). In 2012, I joined TIL, the container terminal arm of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). I was project director on the construction of a container terminal in Lomé in West African Togo. From 2015, I led the construction of a container terminal in Moin in Central American Costa-Rica for APM Terminals.”
Major customers
In July 2018, Joris Thys was approached by the Antwerp port authority. “The government of West African Benin was looking for an international partner to professionally expand the port of Cotonou and make it profitable. The port of Antwerp stepped into that story with a nine-year contract. I was appointed general manager with an international team to develop the port activities and build up local knowledge and expertise. At the government’s request, we did away with a bureaucratic, politically oriented way of governing. Benin, like Belgium, is a small country with a large neighbour Nigeria (population 217 million) as well as Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.”
“After five years, we are over halfway through the nine-year contract and the results are very good. Cotonou has become an African reference and has as customers the biggest container shipping companies such as MSC, Maersk, CMA CGM and COSCO. But general cargo, bulk and ro-ro also pass through with, for example, 150 vessels from Grimaldi carrying second-hand cars every year and CONTI Lines also calls at Cotonou regularly. 80% is import and transit. The 20% exports consist of commodities such as cotton, timber and cashew nuts.”
Special customs regime
“The port of Cotonou handles 12 million tonnes annually and has 1,100 ship calls annually. Operations account for as much as 80% of customs revenue and the sector accounts for 40% of Benin’s gross domestic product.”
Like every port in the world, Cotonou seeks added value. “We are developing a 55-hectare logistics zone. There, importing companies can set up logistics platforms under a special customs regime. Soon, works will start to accommodate larger ships and provide an even faster service. We are also investing heavily in digitalisation, water quality, environmental care and renewable energy. Another exciting project is the new construction of an artisanal fishing port for 30,000 tonnes of fish annually. Over the past five years, we have set up the organisation of the port, including a strong finance department. We organise many training courses – such as for firefighters and pilots, tugboat captains and technicians, management – on port and maritime law, contact negotiations, safe working and so on.”
Port workers and Belgians
“For the seven thousand port workers, we developed a good social status within a new employers’ centre, such as Cewez in Zeebrugge or Cepa in Antwerp. We provide constructive work here but conversely we see a lot of competence here that would open eyes in Belgium,” says Thys.
In the international team, he has four more Belgian colleagues: Kristof Van den Branden (commercial director), Bart Van Eenoo (director of large construction sites), Vincent Biernaux (director of internal audit and financial control) and Gregoire Andre (project engineer).”
To Brazil
Cotonou will be the last major assignment for Thys. “Now that I am retired, I will hand over the day-to-day management to a successor by September. Perhaps I will continue to play a role as a consultant. Five years ago I married a Brazilian and we will divide our time between Bruges and Brazil. I still have a house in Bruges and South America has always attracted me.”