May 15 - The Worldwide Project Consortium (WWPC) has raised a record USD40,000 for Infania during its charity auction at the network's 15th annual conference in Fuengirola, Spain.
The event began on May 13 with a drinks reception at the Hotel IPV Palace & Spa in the Spanish province of Malaga. The conference was then officially opened on May 14 with an introduction from WWPC operations director Wolfgang Karau and a welcome from Xoan Martinez, ceo of Kaleido Logistics - host and sponsor for this year's event.
First guest to present was Alexandra Wrage, president of anti-bribery association TRACE International, who discussed the need for raising awareness of bribery and corruption, as well as for collaboration in tackling this issue in the shipping business.
Other sponsor presentations over the two days included a talk from Stephen Harvey, business development manager EMEIA at Atlas Air; Jens Baumgarten, head of chartering at SAL Heavy Lift; Alexander Kraynov, key account manager at Ruslan International; and Pankaj Dogra, commercial manager for breakbulk at Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL). Attendees also heard from a number of new members about the opportunities in various regions.
The conference came to a close with the much-anticipated charity auction, which managed to raise a record amount of USD41,000 - a massive USD10,000 more than was raised at the last WWPC event in Phuket, Thailand.
Auction items were donated by Atlas Air, Ruslan International, SAL Heavy Lift, WWL, BNSF Logistics, ITJ and Heavy Lift and Project Forwarding International (HLPFI).
Karau commented that this year's 15th annual meeting was a "memorable one" with a record attendance, record-breaking amount of money raised and a unforgettable evening of entertainment.
Ahmed El Dahshan of Khedivial Marine Logistics in Egypt was elected as a new member to the WWPC board of advisors. Other members to continue in their positions as board members are Willy Hoffmann of BNSF Logistics in the USA, Patrick Lee of CNC Freight in Malaysia and Dirk Roethig of LS Cargo International in Germany.
Members voted for the WWPC's 16th annual conference to be held in Panama.
WWPC directors, Wolfgang Karau (far left) and Stuart Murdoch (far right) with representatives from the charity Infania.
