A decades long love affair with Antwerp has lead former head of the European Community Shipowners’ Associations and now managing director of the International Association of Ports and Harbors, Patrick Verhoeven, to write a book about its port.
Harbour Life, now available in English, documents the full gamut of life at the Port of Antwerp, which Verhoeven first became interested in as a 16-year-old student.
In four walking and cycling tours around the city, Verhoeven introduces 33 people whose lives are driven by Antwerp’s port in some way. They include a docker, ship’s captain, pilot, shipbroker, cafe owners, a priest, an organist, a nature conservationist and heritage guards.
Their colourful stories are brought to life with photographs by Noortje Palmers, and maps and infographics by Pieter Boels add the facts and figures of Europe’s second-largest port.
Verhoeven’s tours takes in 211 maritime-themed highlights, including 14 pubs, 26 restaurants and diners, 14 nature conservation areas, 10 churches, 10 museums and four fortresses.
Harbour Life was originally initiated by Antwerp stalwart Marc Van Peel, chairman of the port authority and vice mayor of the city, who stresses the importance of remembering the value of “local solidarity and human contact” and “the often hidden but hard-working community that makes the success of our port”.
Verhoeven told TradeWinds magazine TW+ earlier this year that his ambition is to write a best-selling novel. Hopefully, Harbour Life will be a step in the right direction.
