BREMEN. After 20 years as Head of Marketing at bremenports, Michael Skiba will be retiring from the port management company on 31 December 2021. Under his direction, 50 issues of LOGISTICS PILOT have been realised since October 2013. “LOGISTICS PILOT was originally intended to replace the magazine ‘Weserlotse,’ which we published. The aim was to strengthen the position of the northern German seaports, which were in competition with the western German ports, under a spirit of cooperation and by creating a holistic brand image under the label ‘German Ports’. We were able to gain a strong partner with the Lower Saxony seaports, but were ultimately unable to inspire all the northern German seaports,” stated Skiba. Consequently, he was very pleasantly surprised to learn about the joint statement issued by the Hamburg and Bremen senators (see page 6) in September, which he interprets as being a clear signal for a northern Germany port alliance.
His most positive memory will be the fact that “bremenports has successfully positioned itself as an operational marketer of the location and systematically combines infrastructure management and marketing.” Furthermore, the marketing team developed and undertook a whole series of on-site marketing activities, including appearances at various trade fairs with joint stands, both in Germany and abroad, regular customer events (‘Logistics Talk’) and an extensive internet presence. Michael Skiba is also very pleased that he has managed to build up a network of representative offices in just a few years, which covers most of the Ports of Bremen’s hinterland destinations and thus ensures that the Bremen ports are present within the local and regional networks.
Review: After graduating with a degree in public administration in 1980, Michael Skiba spent 22 years working in various departments of the Bremen Port (back then: Senator for Ports, Shipping and Traffic); he moved to bremenports on 1 January 2002 after the set-up of the port management company.
Photo: bremenports
