The Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) successfully hosted its 19th annual European Cold Chain Conference, 6-8 March 2016 in Amsterdam. The conference welcomed over 100 professionals from the warehousing, construction and transportation branches of the cold chain industry, with 17 countries represented. Most notable were the delegations from Turkey and China. Rated as a key venue for all cold chain stakeholders, the GCCA European Cold Chain Conference featured plenary sessions, breakout education presentations, networking events and a table top exhibition.
Designed to address the typical issues of each segment of the profession, this year's programme covered topics such as Energy Savings through Emerging Technologies; Transportation Trends and Claims; Cold Chain to Reduce Food Losses; Worker Health and Safety; and EU Government Affairs on the cost of border controls. Business and industry speakers from Europe and around the globe brought their expertise to the conference making for a diverse set of speakers to the programme.
"The 'Next Gen' panel of future industry leaders was a favourite amongst the delegates and mine as well," stated GCCA President and CEO Corey Rosenbusch. "I continue to hear from members around the world that talent management is a top priority for them – and facilitating discussions with young professionals currently working in the industry gives us tremendous insight into how to attract and retain their peers."
The conference exhibition generated valuable opportunities for participating suppliers to meet qualified business contacts and decision-makers. The format of the 'expo,' adjacent to the conference programme, triggered a lot of interest and was much appreciated by both visitors and exhibitors. The additional networking events and functions across the conference created the ideal atmosphere to foster business development.
Julie Hanson, GCCA's new European Director, oversaw the planning and execution of the conference as her initial focus with the association. Moving forward in her role, she will concentrate on relationship-building and developing valuable member benefits. Hanson stated, "My primary role is to reinforce the services tailored towards European members as an add-on to the existing GCCA global benefits portfolio, raise our brand awareness across the continent and make sure our European network continues to grow and strengthen."
Overall, the response of the audience was overwhelmingly positive with evaluations giving the event extremely high marks. Presentations from the 2016 conference are posted on the GCCA website. More details regarding the dates and location of GCCA's 20th European Cold Chain Conference will be released shortly. In addition, read more about GCCA's new European Director – Julie Hanson, here.
