Wilfried Lemmens

Managing Director

Wilfried Lemmens is the Managing Director and responsible for the daily operations of the organisation. Wilfried joined the Royal Belgian Shipowners’Association in 2015.

Hilde Peeters

Head of Social and fiscal affairs

Hilde Peeters is head of social and fiscal affairs. She promotes the interests of the Belgian shipowners in the social sectoral dialogue at national and international level. She is also responsible for industrial relations, social security and the training of seafarers. Together with Arantxi, she calculates the wages of seafarers. She became part of the team of the Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association in 2014.

Elle De Soomer

Head of Legal Affairs, shipping policy & security

Elle De Soomer is head of Legal Affairs, shipping policy and security. Her main focus within shipping policy lies on smooth and unimpeded trade as well as short sea shipping. Concerning security she deals with piracy, migrants at sea and cyber security. Furthermore she is responsible for the organization’s communication and website administration. She has been working at the Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association since 2011.

Celine Audenaerdt

Head of environmental & technical affairs

Celine Audenaerdt is head of Environmental & Technical Affairs.

She follows Belgian, European and International policy and legislative developments with regards to maritime technical and environmental matters (EU green deal, Fit for 55, ship recycling, ballast water, IMO GHG strategy, Market Based Measures, etc.) making sure that the interests of Belgian shipowners are taken into account at all levels of policy-making.
Celine joined the Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association team in 2023.

Hélène Smidt

Maritime Innovation & Finance

Hélène is responsible for following up on maritime innovation and finance. She teams up with Gudrun Janssens on climate mitigation topics that concern the industry and co-hosts the Maritime Industry Decarbonisation Counsel (MIDC). Furthermore she follows up on sustainable finance topics such as the EU Taxonomy.

Arantxi Salvador

Management Assistant

Arantxi Salvador, our management assistant, is responsible for the daily office operations. She joined the Belgian Shipowners’ Association in 2015.

Marleen Wybo

Office supply manager

Marleen Wybo, our office supply manager, is responsible for checking child allowances, paid leave and Christmas bonuses for seafarers. Moreover she is in charge of RBSA archives and contacts. Additionally she prepares meeting rooms. Marleen has been a team member of the Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association since 1980.