GPF Executive Workshop on Master Planning For Ports Infrastructure, 24-26 Nov 2025 Panama City, Panama. Exclusive. Intensive. Small Group.

Dear industry colleagues

Over the last four decades, the maritime industry has undergone major structural reforms, following an unprecedented growth in the world maritime trade. These reforms have led the national governments to implement port governance reforms. The reforms have resulted in a renewed role for the port authorities in the respective area / country / region.

Master Planning for Ports Infrastructure has emerged as an important and major area of focus for sustainable maritime infrastructure development for major nations. Port investments all over the world are always made on very long term basis.

Due to inherent long term nature of port projects, port master planning and integrated regional infrastructure development has always remained one of the main focus areas for Port Authorities, Investors, operators and all stakeholders of the ports communities and eco systems.

It is vitally important for everyone responsible and connected with infrastructure development to have a clear understanding about all aspects of master planning for infrastructure and marine developments. The Master Plan of the Port elaborates the reason of the existence of a port to the stakeholders involved.

Today, Master planning has evolved around following variables:

Land Use and organization
Economic Development Strategies
Transports and Intermodal Development
Environment Challenges and Management
Education, Governance and Project Management

This three Days’ Executive Workshop on Master planning will cover the above aspects in different modules from objectives & goals to the full development / execution and implementation of Ports Master Plan with the following learning objectives.

Learning Objectives

Developing long term vision to plan long gestation port projects
Learn strategic focus in ports master planning
Incorporating risk analysis and risk mitigation measures in master plans.
Futuristic value based intermodal systems master plans
Understand legal aspects through concession terms to be incorporated in master plan.
Analyse trade flow and pattern – past, present and future for the life of the project.
Evaluate techno-commercial and financial feasibility to be covered in master plan
Development of technologies, their impact on port operations and master plan
Financial modelling and sensitivity analysis of the port master plan

Methodology

Combination of class-room training, interactive sessions, group case studies will be used. Advance reading material will be provided by e-mail to the participants. Case studies from leading ports – dry and liquid bulk and container terminals will be extensively used for practical understanding of the participants.

Who should attend:

Senior and middle level leaders from Port Authorities, Investors, Ports & Terminal Operators, 3PL/4PL Intermodal service providers. Cross functional teams from marketing, financial, operational and project management can derive the best value from the workshop.

Structure of the workshop

Day 1 – Module 1

Defining and emergence of Master Planning and World Maritime Trade. Understanding Changing roles of Ports as vital link in international logistics and supply chain and significance of Master Planning in the enhanced roles of the ports and maritime infrastructure.
Elements of Master Planning for different types of Ports, nature of business, customers served; ownership and operations structure of ports.

Day 1 – Module 2

Market dynamics and elements impacting Ports Business – significance and use of Master Planning to optimize resources in order to minimize adverse impact of market forces. Using Port Master plan for phased development of the port as per defined corporate objectives.
Master Planning and process of Maritime infrastructure development. Intermodal infrastructure development. Master planning and Land use planning.

Day 2 – Module 3

Concession Agreements forms a fundamental basis for the authorities as well as developers/ investors to define development objectives and how these objectives are to be captured in the concession agreement and its impact on the port Master plan.
Master Planning and Economic Development Strategies – Capex, Revenue projection, Opex and financial feasibility and modelling.

Day 2 – Module 4

Master Planning and Economic Development Strategies – Market mapping, market positioning, USP building and value proposition building.
Master Planning – Transports and Intermodal development – Hinterland mapping and assessment of market potential. Hinterland connectivity development for sustainable infrastructure development.
Master Planning and Environment Management – Understanding national / regional environmental regulations, their challenges and preparing/implementing Environment Management plans for sustainable development with support from ports community and eco system.

Day 3 – Module 5

Port Master Planning – Allocation of areas for services, facilities, utilities. Land and space optimization; design criteria, service parameters planning, operations and materials handling philosophy, mechanization systems and equipment selection.
Master Planning – On shore and off shore structures, optimal designing of berths and cargo handling facilities. Type and size of ships to be operated at the port. Planning of transit storage and evacuation facilities.
Material Control – Monitoring receipts and despatches from the port boundary. Methods used for measurement of weights and volumes of materials and proper accountability of the entire material inventory.
Overall Port Planning – How to utilize the principles of Master planning for achieving the best potential of the port facilities.
Periodic review and adaptation of the plan to remain updated with changing market landscape.
Defining cost and revenue streams of the port as per master plan and estimation of investment (Capex), Operational expenses (Opex) and revenue.

Day 3 – Module 6

Evaluating alternatives in designs and layouts of infrastructure – marine & on shore, superstructure and equipment. Preparation of technical and commercial feasibility.
Impact of technological disruptions on the master plan and effects on feasibility
Financial modelling as per the master plan, sensitivity analysis, risk analysis and risk mitigation measures of the master plan.

About the Course Directors (subject to final confirmation)

Thomas Ng

Thomas Ng has over 30 years of consulting experience in the ports and shipping industry. Thomas is known for developing innovative solutions for players within the ports & shipping industry, — in areas of investments advisory, port strategy, development, marketing, planning & redesign, customer services and port operations; and delivering superior results.

He is the Executive Chairman of The Global Ports Forum (GPF) since 2008. The Global Ports Forum is a platform where all ports stakeholders in the ecosystem- port customers, port authorities, port operators, port people, port suppliers & service providers are gathered together to discuss about issues furthering the interests of ports globally.

Thomas is well-respected in the ports & shipping circles — recognized for his in-depth industry knowledge and far-reaching personal industry network and linkages. Some of his recent port investments advisory work include ports in the Middle East, Africa, Southern Europe, South East Asia, Latin America, etc.

Given Thomas’ far-reaching personal port industry network and linkages, Thomas is often seek out by port investors and port privatisation candidates all over the world for collaborative partnership.

Thomas is invited regularly as speaker & facilitator for Ports conferences, roundtable and executive programs and workshops.

He is the senior port & terminal training expert for the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Singapore Cooperation Programme (SCP) for foreign ports officials for over 10 years. Recent programmes conducted by Thomas include the 5 days executive program in “Port Development and Competitiveness”, Singapore on 12-16 Dec 2016 where Thomas was the key trainer for over 60% of the whole executive program. Some other early SCP programmes that Thomas taught over 20 senior foreign government transport officials included the 2 weeks Singapore MFA Executive Programme in Logistics & Distribution Management on 28 Aug – 10 Sep 2007 & again on 6 Oct – 17 Oct 2008.

Thomas spoke recently at the Transport Intelligence Singapore 2013 Infrastructure panel, together with senior executives from the World Bank & UPS, the Container Depot Association Singapore Conference 2014 on ports and infrastructure, Tank Storage Asia Conference in 2015 and an exclusive Roundtable on Smart ports & ships and Internet of Things in Jun 2016.

On a professional level, Thomas founded the non-government voluntary organization — The Global Ports Council (GPC) in 2008. As of today, over 192 C-level executives globally presents themselves as members of our council. Our prestigious list of Council members are as follows:

http://globalportsforum.com/the-global-ports-council/

Thomas is also a veteran Chartered member (since 2001) of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport Singapore. He had served as a Board Member of the Singapore Branch of Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport for over 22 years till May 24.

Mukesh Parikh

Mr. Mukesh Parikh is associated with Global Maritime Industry for over 40 years. He has a distinction of having hands on Maritime Industry experience with continuous involvement in Training and Development throughout his distinguished career.

He has been conducting a number of executive training programs on ports and terminals at Singapore, UAE, South Africa and other international locations, in addition to his current position of Adjunct Professor at Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management.

Mr. Mukesh Parikh has a post graduate degree in Management with specialization in Marketing and Finance. He attended one year training program Professional Shipping at Norwegian Shipping Academy, Oslo.

During his career of 18 years in the Commercial Shipping, he was associated with UNCTAD/UNDP as a Trainer and Course developer. He attended two weeks instructors’ Workshop (Training for Trainers) organized by UNCTAD / UNDP in collaboration with The Ministry of Transport and Ports in Malaysia at Penang Port Commission. He conducted a number of training Programs in the Middle East, South East Asia and Indian subcontinent including developing a training program on General Shipping Management for Arab Maritime Transport Academy, Sharjah, UAE.A sound foundation of Shipping Industry and clear understanding of market and customer expectation and requirement from service providers enabled Mr. Mukesh Parikh to build the next phase of his career in Ports and Terminal Industry.

He worked with The Adani Group in Senior Management position for 10 years from the inception stage of Mundra Port in India and made a major contribution to set up Business Development and Marketing team as well as establish Standard Operating Procedures for the entire spectrum of Operations in the port. He successfully built marketing and operations teams and trained them.

Since July 2014, Mr. Mukesh Parikh has taken up advisory and consultancy role for The Maritime Industry. His assignments cover Business volume estimation and hinterland mapping with competition analysis, Revenue forecasts for the life of the project and financial modelling, investment optimization in line with market potential; Commercial and legal aspects of logistics, cargo handling, warehousing contracts; business excellence and standardization of operating procedures; Organization development, structuring and Manpower planning and training. He has also advised a number of clients about the Concession agreements and entering in to sub-concessions.

17th GPF Anniversary Special. Pay for Two participants, another Two comes free. No other promotion applicable.

Costs:

On or Before 24 Sep 2025: The ‘Early Bird’ Rate is USD5795 – Save USD800!

Special Offer! – 3 Delegates For The Price of 2 in This Category! Save USD5795!

From 25 Sep 2025: The Regular Rate is USD6795

Special Offer! – 3 Delegates For The Price of 2 in This Category! Save USD6795!

Note: All fees stated include luncheons, refreshments and complete set of documentation. It does not include the cost of accommodation and travel.

REGISTER NOW!

To register, please submit the following details to thomasng@globalportsforum.com:

Name:

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Billing information:

For cheque payments: To be made payable to ‘Global Ports Forum Pte. Ltd.’ Please do not send post-dated cheque.

For telegraphic transfers:

Account Name: Global Ports Forum Pte. Ltd.,

Account No. : 695 477 141 001.

Beneficiary Bank: Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited, Singapore. (Swift: OCBCSGSG),

Address : 65 Chulia Street #01-00, OCBC Centre, Singapore 049513.

Please supply confirmation via email of the TT from your bank. Transmitting bank charges must be paid by sender. Please quote both delegate and company name as reference.

Kindly note that as we are providing a special rate for ‘early bird’ sign up, we will need to receive your company payment by 24 Jul 2025 to enjoy the discount.

Details of GPF forthcoming executive workshops/forums are available on our website at below link:

http://globalportsforum.com/forthcoming-gpf-executive-programmes/

Details of GPF PAST executive workshops/forums are available on our website at below link:

http://globalportsforum.com/past-events/

Look forward to welcoming you at the executive workshop/forum !

Kind regards

Thomas Ng

Chairman

The Global Ports Forum

GLOBAL PORTS FORUM PTE. LTD.

10 Anson Road

#18-11

International Plaza

Singapore 079903

Website: www.globalportsforum.com/

Mobile: +65 9684 3289

DID: +65 65197662

Fax: +65 6725 8438

Email: thomasng@globalportsforum.com

Terms & Conditions:

No delegate registration will be accepted without completing registration details and full payment.

Upon receipt of your registration details and full payment, further programme information will be emailed to you including your proforma invoice and, if required, a letter of invitation for entry visa application.

Delegates will not be admitted unless payment has been received in Full.

Flights, Airport Transfers and Accommodation are not included in your delegate registration fee.

Refund Policy – a reimbursement of the registration fee, minus administrative charges will only be made if the participant has notified Global Ports Forum Pte. Ltd. in writing that he/she is unable to attend the event no less than 45 days prior to the commencement of the event. No cancellation is allowed after that, but a replacement with another participant is allowed.

This programme is subject to change without notice, E&O.E.

2nd GPF Exe Wkshp on Master Planning For Ports, 24-26 Nov 2025 Panama City