Director Hans-Peter Hadorn Resigns at the End of 2020

After many years of successful service as the director of the Swiss Rhine Ports, Hans-Peter Hadorn is resigning at the end of 2020 due to retirement. His successor will be publicly announced in the coming days.

(Basel) The Bernese economist Hans-Peter Hadorn took over the management of the Basel Rhine Port 15 years ago. Hadorn was significantly involved in the merger of the former Rhine Shipping Directorate Basel and the Rhine Ports of Baselland. After a successful referendum in the canton of Basel-Landschaft, he assumed the role of director of the newly established Swiss Rhine Ports on January 1, 2008.

After a transformation period involving the integration of operational cultures and the establishment of independence, the Swiss Rhine Ports developed under his leadership into a successful transport hub of national significance. In 2015, the Swiss Rhine Ports and thus Rhine shipping achieved equal footing with the rail transport sector regarding the financing of infrastructure for combined transport with the complete revision of the Goods Transport Act. This enabled the project of Port Basin 3, which was approved by the Grand Council of the Canton of Basel-Stadt in February 2020 and is financed by the federal government and the canton. This aims to secure the future of the Kleinhüningen port within the framework of port and urban development. The referendum vote is expected to take place later this year.

At the international level, Hans-Peter Hadorn represents the interests of Switzerland and inland shipping as a commissioner of the Central Commission for the Rhine Navigation (ZKR) and as vice president of the European Federation of Inland Ports (EFIP). The trinational cooperation with the German and French neighboring ports on the Upper Rhine was also a focus of his work. The electronic ship registration system “RheinPorts Information System” (RPIS) for cross-border container traffic laid the foundation in 2018 for the development of a digital port infrastructure along the Rhine.

As chairman of the board of directors of the 100% subsidiary Hafenbahn Schweiz AG, he also influenced the development of the rail access to the Rhine Ports. In 2011, the federal concessions of the Hafenbahn of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft and the Hafenbahn of the Canton of Basel-Stadt were transferred to Hafenbahn Schweiz AG. In recent years, the infrastructure of the Hafenbahn has been modernized with electronic interlockings and a central operations control center. The commissioning of the new freight railway between the Auhafen Muttenz and the industrial area Schweizerhalle-Salina Raurica is planned for August 2020.

Following the resignation of the chairman of the board, Dr. Benedikt Weibel, at the end of 2019, who, like Hans-Peter Hadorn, had been in office since the founding of the Swiss Rhine Ports, the generational change is now also occurring at the management level. The board of directors of the Swiss Rhine Ports deeply regrets the resignation of Hans-Peter Hadorn and thanks him for his many years of dedicated service to the Rhine Ports, Rhine shipping, and the two owner cantons – with a good sense of the peculiarities of managing a public enterprise.

In the coming days, the succession will be publicly announced. The election body is the board of directors of the Swiss Rhine Ports.

Photo: Swiss Rhine Ports / © Photo Dominik Plüss

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