New state harbour master appointed

Milembe Mateyo has been working for Port of Amsterdam since 2009 as head of the Spatial Planning and Environment department and previously as strategic advisor to the Harbour Master’s Division. In this role, she has gained a great deal of knowledge and experience in incident response and has worked closely with the safety regions and the North Sea Canal municipalities.

Koen Overtoom, CEO Port of Amsterdam: ‘Milembe is a true connector whose knowledge and experience perfectly position her to fulfil the role of harbour master. We know her as a driven person with a good feel for the public side of the business and who knows the operation inside out. We're therefore pleased to see her appointed to this important role.’

Milembe Mateyo: ‘The port is fully under development and is constantly changing. My main task and goal is to ensure safe, smooth and sustainable shipping in a constantly changing port region. In my position as harbour master, I’ll be working on the digitalisation of the port and the opportunities this offers. Next year will be an important one: I’m looking forward to a good collaboration as we approach SAIL 2020.’

The Harbour Master’s Division performs the public tasks of Port of Amsterdam and the Central Nautical Management. In these roles, the harbour master is responsible for the safe, smooth and sustainable management of shipping traffic, from the management area of 12 miles outside the piers in IJmuiden to the Oranje locks in Amsterdam. The mandators are the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management and the municipalities of Velsen, Beverwijk, Zaanstad and Amsterdam.

The most important tasks of the Harbour Master’s Division are:

• shipping traffic management on the North Sea Canal;
• operation of the locks in IJmuiden;
• safety and environment inspections;
• supervision and enforcement of nautical laws and regulations;
• policy development.

The Harbour Master’s Division is directed by the harbour master and employs approximately 180 people divided between the Operations (24/7) and Advice and Policy departments. Milembe Mateyo succeeds Marleen van de Kerkhof, who joined the Amsterdam-Amstelland Fire Brigade as sector manager/deputy commander earlier this year.

Milembe Mateyo's abridged CV:

April 2018 – present

Head of Spatial Planning and Environment at Port of Amsterdam. Department responsible for spatial and environmental remits in the Western Port Area.

November 2013 – March 2018

Strategic advisor to the Harbour Master’s Division of Port of Amsterdam.

June 2009 – October 2013

Group manager at Port of Amsterdam, managing a group of traffic controllers and lock keepers.