Bonjour à tous! Hello, everybody!

Do you believe in Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity that says there is an “extended present” in which neither future nor past exist?

Well, I will give you an example but of course it is up to you to decide in the end.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the City of Le Havre in France skyrocketed as a vibrant port city. It became a major industrial city with a flourishing port for the trade of raw materials and passenger traffic. But during the Second World War, Le Havre was bombed which left unforgettable scars in the town and its people. The port and the houses were completely destroyed. From the ashes was reborn a beautiful Unesco world heritage city rebuilt by Auguste Perret, with the port as a symbol of resilience and economic advances.

Fast forward to today, after several decades the port of Le Havre, or what is now known as Haropa Port, holds the record for being the leading French port and the fifth largest European port for container traffic, visited by the world's largest cargo ships and luxury cruise ships.

Question: "So after the war, during the reconstruction phase, which came first — the city or the port — since both were destroyed by the bombing?”

Well, according to the professors at the EM Normandie Business School, the port was largely destroyed by the end of the Second World War but the decision to reconstruct was taken on the basis of the 1939 port layout and was completed in 1965, which gave rise to the communities and businesses around the port.

Bienvenue! Or shall I say welcome to France, my dear readers! Yes, I am on a special voyage here in Le Havre, France as representative of the Philippine Ports Authority to the 38th Advanced Course on Port Operations and Management organized under the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Here we are expected to learn from the experts in the maritime field through the courses given by Haropa Port ranging from port development, port management, ship handling, port dues, port marketing, safety and security, and the new systems and technologies used in ports. Quite a lot of interesting new information I can bring home to our more than 100 ports. Thanks to the leadership of Philippine Ports Authority general manager Jay Santiago, Ph Ports can now compete with the ports around the world and cater to global demands as one of the leading ports in Southeast Asia.

The 38th Advanced Course on Port Operations and Management I am attending was arranged by the Institut Portuaire d'Enseignement et de Recherche (IPER) of EM Normandie headed by Claire Plonesis together with Haropa Port represented by Pierre Decoussy.

The objective is to learn from the onsite lectures on the aforementioned topics; to gain knowledge from port facility visits; and to apply the learnings to each port represented by the 20 countries participating this year: Angola, Cameroon, Comoros, Djibouti, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Senegal, Somalia, Mongolia, Mauritius, Namibia, Togo, Suriname and the Philippines.

The first week of the course introduced us to Haropa Port which offers ecological multimodal solutions that are integrated from the French coast at Le Havre and Rouen right into the heart of the Paris area and the Seine upstream, as well as into the whole of France and Europe, that is why one of the professors told us that their branding is to be the "Harbor of Paris.”

Haropa is a portmanteau coined from Le Havre, Rouen and Paris.

Haropa Port has the benefit of an exceptional geographical location enabling it to serve the Paris area, offering competitive multimodal connections for a supply chain that is global, seamless, fast and is linked to European industrial markets.

It is indeed a great inspiration to draw from, especially since the port was started from scratch after 80 percent of the city was destroyed and the port, which was vital to the economy, became unusable but, looking at it now, the port is now an engine of its economy.

The key to the future often lies in the past because we are all in the same boat. Change is happening fast and the circumstances over the years may have changed the original goal but learning from the past can prepare us for the uncertain future, just like the beautiful story of Le Havre, France and Haropa port.

History, however painful, cannot be changed, but the end will always be worth the cost, the city of Le Havre and Haropa Port are proof that anything can heal, evolve, and bounce back stronger than before. Going back to the theory of Albert Einstein, well, your guess is as good as mine.

À bientôt! (See you soon).