Laid out in front of Jörg Geerke are 32 pages of résumé—densely packed with activities spanning more than 35 years at HPC Hamburg Port Consulting. As Vice President for Institutional Clients, he is currently responsible for managing global tenders for bank-financed projects—whether from the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or other institutional clients—preparing competitive bids on behalf of HPC. It’s a demanding role, and the 64-year-old draws on a deep well of practical experience as a technical advisor on international projects.

Where It All Began: Depth Measurements and Digital Pioneering

Geerke joined the Hydrography Department at HPC in 1989—a department that remained until 1998. Hydrography, the applied science of mapping underwater terrain, was his entry point. “The most well-known part is bathymetry,” he explains, “which is the measurement of water depth—something that’s regularly done in the Port of Hamburg.” Early in his career, this graduate surveyor led a team advising Hamburg’s authority for tidal and port construction (then known by a different name) on its journey into the digital era, including the development of a hydrographic data processing system. That agency is now known as the Hamburg Port Authority. Progress and name changes have been constant companions in a career shaped by shifting challenges.

Remote Consulting, Deep Involvement

By the mid-1990s, Geerke had stepped into a new role: supporting the creation of a hydrographic service for the National Oceanographic Institute of Sri Lanka. Operating from Hamburg, he helped local colleagues in Colombo specify and procure a survey vessel. Helping to build something from the ground up with local partners was rewarding—even though he hadn’t yet set foot on site. This pilot project, funded by the former German Technical Cooperation (GTZ, now part of GIZ), marked his entry into development cooperation. In 1998, after eight years at HPC headquarters, Geerke took on his first international assignment. Projects with GTZ/GIZ, the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank, and KfW took him deep into regions of Africa rarely seen by tourists.

A Suitcase, Some French – and a Mission in West Africa

Guinea became a defining place in Geerke’s life. It was the destination of his first major business trip with HPC. Sensing the importance of the project, he had refreshed his French skills at night school, knowing that few people in northern Germany spoke the language. With a background in geodesy from the University of Hanover and solid consulting expertise, he was the right person to join a French colleague in overseeing maintenance dredging in Conakry’s silt-heavy port. The project included an initial bathymetric survey of the port and its access channel. Geerke calculated dredging volumes, prepared tender documents, evaluated bids, and trained local staff. He adapted to the sweltering heat and rough conditions in what he calls “one of West Africa’s more challenging countries.” He spent two months there, met his then-partner, and has felt closely connected to Guinea ever since.

Jungle Camps and Drums Along the River

In 2002, Geerke returned to Guinea for three months as project manager to assess the navigability of the Mellacorée River and maritime access to the port of Benty. With no hotels available, he camped out under canvas. One unforgettable moment: as a German survey ship sailed upriver, it was greeted by dugout canoes brimming with people—“Drums could be heard all along the riverbanks,” he recalls. The country’s transport minister arrived with hundreds of soldiers to greet the mission. Today, Geerke spreads out the photos from those days: sandy jungle tracks, a car with another car strapped to its roof. The vivid, often surreal moments of this unfamiliar world were captured with his early digital camera—memories of longer work stints in Bangladesh, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. “It was a fascinating time,” he sums up.

From Fieldwork to Strategy

Geerke enjoyed his work supervising construction in hydrographic consulting because “you could see the result in the end.” But over time, the nature of international consulting has changed. Increasingly, he began leading studies: port development plans, business scenarios for logistics hubs, feasibility studies for sustainable port waste management. “When HPC was founded in 1976, long-term consulting contracts with port authorities were common, to help transfer know-how from Europe,” he says. While his assignments could last a month—or even a full quarter—he now watches as colleagues “gather all their data and conduct key meetings in just one site visit lasting a week.” Thanks to digitalisation, extended field stays have shrunk into brief fact-finding missions. In the past, contacting someone meant scheduling landline calls; his first mobile phone had a pull-out antenna.

70 Projects, 30 Countries, One Compass

Over the course of three decades, Geerke has travelled to more than 30 countries for HPC, completed around 70 projects, and prepared over 100 proposals. Since the pandemic, he’s been back in Hamburg—where his journey began. But that doesn’t mean things have slowed down: “I’m constantly receiving new tenders and supporting lots of projects.” He’s pleased to still be onboard as HPC celebrates its 50th anniversary next year—before retiring in 2026 after 37 years of service.

What remains after a career spent between charts, coastlines, and continents? A remarkable legacy that shows just how vital expertise, curiosity, and resilience are in international consulting—then and now.