Accurately forecasting the future is always a challenging business. Imagine doing this prior to early 2019 – how wrong would you have been? Who could have imagined COVID-19 or Russia initiating a war in the Ukraine? At an industry level, who could have forecast the phenomenal profits of shipping lines, the mega investment in new tonnage and diverse new business streams. A similar scale of change has been triggered in the bulk agri-products and energy markets. A lot to discuss – hence the timely restart of the Terminal Operations Conference in Rotterdam this month, one welcome return to normality!