Roy Avrahami, head of innovation and the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm at Ashdod Port Company, has been elected president of the IAPORTS Innovation Committee for the 2026–27 term.
Avrahami was elected by acclamation at the committee’s quarterly session on September 28, marking the first time the presidency of an IAPORTS committee has been held outside Latin America.
Rogério Saran of Brazil’s Santos Port Authority was elected vice president, while Luis Pérez Madariaga of Spanish technology company Indra was elected second vice president.
The Innovation Committee is one of three IAPORTS Global Trends Committees, alongside Investment and Decarbonization. It brings together port authorities, terminal operators, technology companies and investors to discuss developments in the sector, including automation, port community systems, data standards and artificial intelligence.
Ashdod Port joined IAPORTS in the association’s early stages and has since been an active member. Its innovation activities include an innovation hub, a startup program and a venture capital arm focused on port technology.
The appointment will give Ashdod Port a leadership role in the committee’s work with members, many of whom are based in Latin America, while creating opportunities for cooperation between the region and the Middle East.
Shaul Schneider, chairman of the board of directors at Ashdod Port Company, said the appointment reflected the port’s efforts to expand its international role.
“This international appointment is an important milestone for Ashdod Port Company and reflects our strategic commitment to leading innovation and technological advancement across the global maritime sector,” Schneider said.
“As Chairman, I am proud to see Ashdod Port extending its international leadership, sharing our operational expertise and investment ecosystem with global port leaders, and strengthening Israel's position as a hub for port technology.”
Nissan Levy, CEO of Ashdod Port Company, said the election recognized the work of the port’s teams and the importance of international cooperation.
“This election acknowledges the work our teams do every day, and a conviction we have held for some time: a port’s responsibility now extends beyond its own quay,” Levy said.
“For us, international cooperation delivers practical results: improving port operations, implementing technologies, and expanding business opportunities for the port and the innovative companies we work with.”
Avrahami said the committee would focus on turning discussions between regions into practical projects.
“Innovation does not travel well in isolation. It travels when ports open their operations to one another and say plainly what worked and what did not,” he said.
“Latin America and the Middle East have more in common than the map suggests — the same pressure to move more cargo with fewer emissions, the same search for technology that survives contact with a real terminal.”
“My ambition is that the committee produces not only good sessions, but pilots, exchanges between teams and business between the two regions,” he added.
The committee’s 2026–27 leadership also includes representatives from the Santos Port Authority and Indra, bringing together a port authority in the Middle East, Latin America’s largest port complex and an international technology company with port systems deployed across Europe and Latin America.
Raquel Kibrit, executive director of IAPORTS, said the appointments reflected the association’s aim of bringing together industry leaders from different regions and sectors.
“IAPORTS was built on the conviction that the people moving the innovation agenda in ports are spread across regions and across the public and private sides of the industry, and that they rarely sit at the same table,” Kibrit said.
“Now a port in the Middle East, the largest port in Latin America and a global technology company chair this committee together.”
The three officers will help shape the committee’s 2027 program and its strategic projects. The next committee session is scheduled for November 17, 2026.