10th chainPORT Annual Meeting - Resilience, hybrid threats, and civil-military collaboration

From October 29–30, 2025, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) hosted the 10th chainPORT Annual Meeting. Under the central theme “Resilience, Hybrid Threats, and Civil-Military Collaboration,” representatives from ten chainPORT ports discussed the role of port infrastructure operators in times of geopolitical tension.

Ports from Antwerp-Bruges, Barcelona, Busan, Gothenburg, Los Angeles, Rotterdam, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tanger Med joined the meeting in Hamburg.

Jens Meier, CEO of HPA and co-founder of the chainPORT initiative, stated: “Complex geopolitical developments require ports to assess their own security posture. The goal is to adapt crisis management and processes to better handle hybrid threats - not just individually and locally, but globally. Shared standards, information exchange, and resilience are key. Collaboration is one of our strongest tools: we need to meet each other, before we need each other.”

This year’s event provided participants from the international port industry with insights on “Security and Resilience” from various expert perspectives. Keynote speaker Stylianos Tzimis, Deputy Director Community of Interest Vulnerabilities and Resilience at the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), emphasized the importance of building an integrated, resilient, and collaborative maritime security strategy for ports. “Hybrid threats are no longer exceptions in the port industry - they are the new normal. Ports must be prepared and approach potential scenarios through practical simulations to develop appropriate response plans - case by case, port by port,” Tzimis advised.

Brigadier General Rejanne Eimers-van Nes, Deputy Chief of Staff Communication and Engagement at the 1st German-Netherlands Corps, shared valuable insights into NATO’s perspective. Using examples from Scandinavian and Baltic countries, she highlighted the importance of resilience and a holistic defense approach to strengthen stability.

As usual, the chainPORT Annual Meeting also served to reflect on the outcomes of the chainPORT working groups “Supply Chain Resilience in Ports Taskforce,” “Cyber Resilience,” and the recent chainPORT Academy.

As Europe’s largest contiguous industrial area, Hamburg also offered international guests a site visit to the Airbus facility in Hamburg-Finkenwerder. Olaf Kamlah, Head of Business Operations at Airbus Aerostructures, provided insights into the commercial division and production of the Airbus A320, as well as the supply chain resilience of Europe’s largest aerospace company.

The chainPORT annual meeting concluded with a visit to the HPA’s Vessel Traffic Service Centre (VTS). David Gnutzmann, Deputy Harbor Master, explained the highly complex navigation along the Elbe to Hamburg and the importance of system redundancy and human resilience in the highly digitalized and integrated operations of the VTS.