Page 6: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 16, 2026)

Port of the Future conference 2026

Editorial

The Future

When the opportunity to acquire Port of the Future came up in 2025 I was intrigued, but among the myriad of details to consider there was one stipulation that stood head and shoulders above the rest: I told Kevin Clement at the time: “If you’re in, we’re in. If you’re not, we’re out.”

Welcome to Port of the Future 2026, the ? rst of many to come under the New Wave

Media banner. Over the years – 34 years to be exact since I started with New Wave Media in 1992 – we have dabbled in the live event business, but with so much conference content already on the calendar – year in, year out – it was always a matter of deciding ‘when and where.’ When the opportunity to acquire Port of the Future came up in 2025, the answer was ‘in Houston and now’!

GREG TRAUTHWEIN

In the three plus decades that I’ve covered the global maritime, offshore energy and

PRESIDENT, subsea markets, it is a vast understatement to say that I’ve been to many conferences.

NEW WAVE MEDIA

To be perfectly candid, I ? nd a majority of conferences to be mundane from a content perspective, as the ‘pay for play’ model is pervasive and many presentations I attend are already ‘old news’.

That was not the case with Port of the Future, as Kevin Clement – year in, year out – has connected with port, leadership globally and attracted them to Houston for 2+ days of conference, exhibition and networking, with deep discussions among government, industry and academia regarding the trends that are shaping and reshaping the ports of the world. From a business perspective, this was an ideal ? t in the New Wave Media portfolio.

New Wave Media is a fourth-generation family-owned New York City-based business- to-business publisher to the global maritime, offshore energy, subsea, ports and logistics markets. Starting with our ? agship title Maritime Reporter & Engineering News in 1939, the organization has morphed and evolved over the years, adding breadth and depth to our offering. Whether the topic is maritime security, environmental compliance, shipping ef- ? ciency or fuel transition, ports are a big and growing part of the equation for all.

AUDIENCE, AUDIENCE, AUDIENCE

Since 1939, New Wave Media and its family of B2B media have built and maintained the largest, targeted, audited audiences in the maritime, offshore energy, subsea, ports and logistics market, some key statistics including: • 1,625,082 – Average monthly network pageviews • 137,618 – Average monthly magazine circulation • 91,335 – App Downloads

In print, online, via eNews, video channels, podcasts, social media, industry analyti- cal reports and consultation, micro conference events and now full-scale conference and exhibition courtesy Port of the Future, our singular effort for more than 85 years has been to build and maintain the largest collective target audience that make or sway purchasing decisions across the individual markets we serve.

We have big plans for the event’s expansion, but more on that later. Until then, I wish you a warm welcome to Port of the Future 2026.

We’ve built the conference program, the exhibition, the social events and the local port tour with an eye on providing each of you with the opportunity to connect, learn and to envision and create solutions that will drive port development and ef? ciency for the cur- rent and next generation.

6 A New Wave Media Publication • www.marinelink.com • www.oedigital.com