Also in China Ahlers celebrated the Ahlers centennial as well as 15 years' presence in China. /03 Jun 2009/
As part of the worldwide celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Ahlers, Ahlers China also celebrated its 15th birthday on May 18, 2009.
A fabulous buffet party was held in Shanghai on May 18, 2009 (a lucky date in China) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ahlers and the 15th birthday of Ahlers China. The event took place in the beautiful garden of the Belgian Consulate General in Shanghai with a fantastic weather.
To kick off the party, Mr Marc Pecsteen, Consul General of Belgium in Shanghai, welcomed everybody to his “home”. Christian Leysen, Executive Chairman of Ahlers, briefed the audience on the history of Ahlers and Ahlers China. Baron Delwaide, Honorable Chairman of the Port of Antwerp, mentioned the long term sister city and sister port relationship between Antwerp and Shanghai and the well reputed APEC training program for about 2,500 port operators, especially container terminal managers, in China during the last two decades. Mr Bao Qifan, Vice President of Shanghai International Port (Group) expressed 
his sincerest thanks towards the great support of the Port of Antwerp to the Port of Shanghai during its inauguration of the containerization in China in early 1980’s, which is now the 2nd largest world container port with 28 million TEU in 2008. Mr Bao also wished a greater success of Ahlers in China in the future.
The celebration was harmoniously accompanied by a live Philippine band, the Belgian singer Astrid Cuylits who happens to be one of our clients (Dragon Sourcing) and a flutist Leo Dai, son of Dai Lipeng. On top of that, we also served our guests with Belgian beers (Duvel and Vedett), Belgian chocolate (Daskalides) and French wines (FTI), all being our customers in China.
It was a wonderful and unforgettable evening! Nobody was patient to wait for another 15 years to celebrate it again, let alone another 100 years.