In a move to further empower its role, MedCruise, the Association representing cruise ports in the Mediterranean and its adjoining seas, announced today the appointment of Dr. Thanos Pallis as its new Secretary General.

The move comes in the light of the latest developments in the sector and the resulting necessity to strengthen MedCruise presence on a number of issues of interest to its members.
To better serve cruise ports and associate members, MedCruise has restructured its secretariat. Appreciating the productive and successful work done for the association in the past two years by Maria de Larratea, she will now act as Deputy Secretary General, and together they will lead MedCruise to a new phase.

Stavros Hatzakos, MedCruise President, stated the reason for this change: “All our members face challenges, and expect MedCruise to continue its pivotal role and assist them in benefiting from the growth of the cruise industry by providing networking, promotional and professional development opportunities. The experience and involvement of our new Secretary General in port associations, and intergovernmental organisations, as well as his record on port policy, management and economics issues in Europe and beyond, will provide additional expertise.

The restructuring results in a winning team that will further the excellent present work of the MedCruise Secretariat and enable the Association to provide further benefits for all its members.”

The new MedCruise Secretary General, Dr. Thanos Pallis, works for the port sector for the last two decades. A Jean Monnet Professor in European Port Policy at the University of the Aegean, Greece, he is a regular contributor at OECD, UNCTAD, European Commission, IAPH, AIVP, and ESPO discussions on ports, and member of research teams advising the European Commission and national governments on port performance and benchmarking.

He served as General Secretary for Ports & Port Policy, Ministry of Development, Competitiveness and Shipping, Greece. He is the co-director of the PortEconomics.eu web initiative and has an extensive publication record including the books European Port Policy and The Common EU Maritime Transport Policy.