SIPORTS 2026: Youssef Imghi on the panel on port competitiveness and connectivity

The first edition of SIPORTS, the International Salon for Ports and their Ecosystem, opened on Wednesday 1 April 2026 at the Mohammed V Exhibition Park in El Jadida and ran until 3 April. Held under the aegis of the Ministry of Equipment and Water, the salon assembled exhibitors from four continents around institutional, industrial, operational and academic programmes.

Youssef Imghi took part in the panel devoted to competitiveness and connectivity as the new strategic questions facing the port sector, in his capacity as international expert representing the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.

Speaking from the floor, he addressed the roles that shape a port platform — regulator, operator, landlord and community builder — and how the balance struck between them conditions everything built on top.

Competitiveness as a question of integration

The panel took the port as an ecosystem, held together by digitalisation, decarbonisation and organisational resilience. Those three are usually run by different departments, and they decide performance jointly.

Competitiveness is not won on concrete alone, but on the intelligence of integration.

Pr. Salah Oulfarsi, SIPORTS 2026 panel

It is close to what Portus tends to find on assignments. The binding constraint on a port is rarely the quay. More often it is the hinterland link, the procedure where two systems meet, or an institution that cannot decide in the time available.