The event was organised by Eurobitume France and held in the magnificent Auguste Brûlé amphitheatre at the FNTP (National Federation of Public Works) building in Paris.

Jean-Michel Michou from Eurobitume France opened the event with a brief presentation about the 50 years of service Eurobitume has given to the European bitumen industry between 1969 and 2019. He then focused on the handling and transport of bitumen, and spoke about the updated new Safe Delivery of Bitumen Guide Eurobitume has produced.

An impressive set of speakers followed and presented their expert insights on a selection of important topics:

• Christine Leroy from Routes de France provided valuable updates on Emulsion Plant safety and combined slurry seal surface dressing
  
  
• Heidi Kauffmann from Cerema, as a member of IDRRIM’s ‘Winter damage’ Working Group, addressed the masters of works in the audience about how to prevent through good practices damage to roads in Winter
  
  
• Jean-Eric Poirier from Colas spoke about Sustainable development, in particular the national MURE (MUlti-REcycling of asphalt mixes) project
  
  
• Jean-François Balaÿ and Bernard Schaffner from BN Pétrole, in charge of the CEN/TC 336 secretariat, then spoke about the interaction between European standardization and CE marking for bituminous binders
  
  
• The final presentation was delivered by UFIP President Francis Duseux and UFIP Technical Director Refining, Safety and Environment Franck Chevallier. They talked about the oil situation and explained what the new IMO 2020 regulation on the reduction of sulphur content in marine fuels, which will be applied from 1 January 2020, consists of and its consequences on bitumen quality.

Eurobitume President Christophe Jacquet closed the event, praising the organisation, the comprehensive programme and the contributions of all the speakers.

He also invited everyone to the networking cocktail reception afterwards, where Eurobitume’s 50 years of service to the bitumen industry in Europe were recognised, and encouraged them to plan ahead for the 7^th E&E Congress in Madrid on 12-14 May, 2020.

Presentations delivered at the event can be downloaded here.