Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani handed out the first ESPO Award on Societal Integration of Ports to Fernando Menendez Rexach, President of the Port Authority of Gijón. The Award, a wooden sculpture designed by the Belgian artist François Schuiten, was given during a festive ceremony held at the Brussels Town Hall on 4 November. The port of Gijón won the Award with the project “Gijón Port and City Together”. It was selected because of the port authority’s long-standing strategy in managing the societal integration of its port, because the many different initiatives involved in this strategy matched all the categories and criteria set out for the Award and because these initiatives form a true catalogue of inspiration for many other port authorities.

“We were very much impressed by the 30 applications that were received for the first edition of the ESPO Award”, said Jury Chairman John B Richardson, “They represent an enormous diversity, but above all a clear determination of the port authorities concerned in making the added value of their port visible to their local communities.”

The shortlisted ports for the Award were Algeciras, Genoa, Ghent, Gijón, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Turku. Apart from selecting Gijón as winner, the Jury also decided on two special mentions:

• one for the Port of Genoa and its innovative project Genoa Port Centre, an interactive port information centre which will open this week and which the Jury believes to be an example for many other ports
  
• one for the Port of Ghent and its successful project Ghent Canal Zone, which the Jury found to be a best practice case of stakeholder management

The ESPO Award on Societal Integration aims to promote innovative projects of European port authorities that improve societal integration of ports, especially with the city or wider community in which they are located. In this way, the Award wants to stimulate the sustainable development of European ports and their communities. The call for proposals for the 2010 edition of the Award will open on 4 January and will run until 4 June.

Details of all project applications can be found on the ESPO website www.espo.be

EPF has recently welcomed 5 new members to the Ecoports network; the Port of Kotka in Finland, the Port of Waterford in Ireland, The Region Nord-Pas de Calais who is partly responsible for the management of the Ports of Calais and Boulogne in France, the Orkney Islands Harbours in the UK, and the Port of Harlingen in The Netherlands. The Ecoports network currently counts 50 partners.

Twenty additional Ports have submitted within 2009 their SDMs for analysis at Ecoports raising the number of SDM submissions within the Ecoports database to over 80. The new submissions enabled the updating of the European benchmark of performance. The new SDM benchmark 2009 is being used for the analysis of SDM submissions as of June 2009.

Several ports are in the process of PERS certification or re-certification. French and German are in the process of implementing PERS and preparing the documentation in order to apply for certification. A number of UK ports are soon expected to submit the documentation for their re-certification. Within 2009 the Port of Piraeus got PERS re-certified and the port of Castellon joined the PERS certificate holders’ network. There are 35 ports currently certified by PERS. 

Read at the latest Ecoports Newsletter

• ESPO / Ecoports Port Environmental Review 2009
  
• Ecoports projects news
  - Security Upgrade for Ports
  - Ports and Harbours data service based on Earth Observation
  - Sustainable managements for European local ports
  - Air quality Management in port areas
  
• New EcoPorts Partners
  
• SDM and PERS tools

> click here to download the Newsletter

The ESPO/Ecoports Port Environmental Review 2009 was launched during the Greenport conference in Naples (24-25 February 2009) and was received with enthusiasm by the port sector. The review will be going on until the 1st of July 2009 and aims at establishing a European benchmark of performance.

More than 80 ports from all over Europe have already completed the review. All ports are however stimulated to contribute in order to achieve an outcome that is fully representative of the European port sector.

All individual port responses are going to be treated anonymously and in confidence. Ports that complete the review will receive a summary report of the outcomes.

> click here for the ESPO Review online tool
> click here to download the ESPO Review text version
> click here to download the Environmental Review Brochure

Marco Polo is the European Union's funding programme for projects which shift freight transport from the road to sea, rail and inland waterways. This means fewer trucks on the road and thus less congestion, less pollution, and more reliable and efficient transport of goods.

Some € 62 million are available, supporting between 35% and 50% of the eligible project costs. The deadline to submit project proposals is 8 May 2009.

Only commercial undertakings (possibly owned by public administrations) from the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Croatia can apply.Usually, the project must involve at least two partner organisations from two eligible countries. One-applicant projects are an exception.
Pure infrastructure projects, research & development projects and studies are not eligible.

> For more information click here

From 1 January 2008 the EcoPorts Secretariat is outsourced to the ESPO (European Sea Ports Organisation) secretariat in Brussels. Your main contact point now is:

Mr. Roel Hoenders
EcoPorts Foundation (ad ESPO)
Treurenberg 6
B – 1000 Brussel/Bruxelles
Tel: +32 2 734 94 48 / Fax: +32 2 736 63 25
Email: roel.hoenders@ecoports.com / roel.hoenders@espo.be 

The EcoPorts Board decided this change to improve the service and to create a better synergy between the work of ESPO (the ESPO Sustainable Development Committee in particular) and the EcoPorts Foundation.

EcoPorts will continue all of its activities, related to its Tools and Projects.

The EcoPorts secretariat in Brussels will be mainly managing the activities related to the EcoPorts Tools:

- the Self Diagnosis Method (SDM)
- the Port Environmental Review System (PERS) and PERS Certificate
- the national Workshops and trainings on the EcoPorts tools
- the EcoPorts International Conference 
- the EcoPorts network 

The activities of EcoPorts as partner in European Port cooperation projects will be managed outside of the EcoPorts secretariat by a separate project secretary for each project. See the EcoPorts website.
Partners of the EcoPorts network can however send any proposals for future cooperation projects or an advice for EcoPorts to participate in a project to the secretariat.

Looking forward to actively cooperate with you in the future or meeting you as a future Ecoports Foundation partner!

- Why become partner of EcoPorts Foundation?
- What is the partnership fee for EcoPorts Foundation?
- Can national port associations become partner of EcoPorts Foundation?
- Can environmental authorities become partner of EcoPorts Foundation?
- Can companies in ports or the logistic chain become partner of EPF?
- Is PERS certification only possible for EcoPorts Foundation partners?
- What is the advantage of PERS certification for a port?
- Can I get assistance from the EPF to fill in my SDM?
- Who do I have to contact if I want to develop a project with EcoPorts?
- What views delivers EcoPorts Foundation publicly?

These are only some of the questions that may arise when talking about Ecoports. To learn the answers to the above and many more questions, visit the Frequently Asked Questions page.

What is the NAIADES Action Programme about?

Last year the European Commission published the so-called 'NAIADES'[1] Action Programme in order to promote inland waterway transport in Europe. The EU has for some time recognised the great potential that Europe's inland waterways offer for freight transport. Transport by inland waterways is reliable, cost-effective, safe and energy-efficient; it has low emissions and external costs and can offer important spare capacities. Promoting inland waterway transport can therefore help to meet our main policy objectives, namely to guarantee a cleaner environment and a more efficient use of scarce resources and infrastructure networks.

The Action Programme has five strategic aims:
(1) improving market conditions,
(2) modernising the fleet,
(3) developing the human capital,
(4) strengthening the image of inland navigation and
(5) improving the infrastructure.

It is composed of various kinds of actions which are either of a legislative nature (e.g. harmonisation of different rules); of a policy coordinative nature (like the TEN-T Coordinator) or of a supportive nature (support programmes at national or European level). The timeframe for implementing of the programme is 2006-2013.

EMSA has just launched RuleCheck, which is a system to enable ship inspections in ports to be undertaken more efficiently and effectively. Over time, the international rules governing port state control (PSC) related ship inspections have become more and more complex. RuleCheck makes the inspector’s job easier, by clearly showing the different rules that apply to a selected ship at the time of an inspection. RuleCheck was developed under a contract with the Korean Register of Shipping (KRS)

> Download press release 

Source: EMSA

On 13 November 2007 the Commission adopted a substantial extension of the European Natura 2000 network, the EU wide network of nature protection areas established under the 1992 Habitats Directive.

The Natura 2000 network is considered as the cornerstone of EU nature protection and biodiversity policy and in that function it also hampered several port expansion as well as dredging projects across the EU. The extension consists of adding 4.255 new sites of Community importance and a total area of some 90.000 square kilometers (which is about the size of Portugal). Besides several additions in the Member States that joined the EU in 2004, considerable areas have been established as sites of Community importance in the offshore marine environment, with more than 8.000 km² proposed only by Germany.

In the coming years the Commission will be especially keen on pushing Member States to proceed with designating marine sites. This could obviously have an impact on shipping and dredging activities in these marine waters. The Commission therefore issued a recent guidance document for the establishment of the Natura 2000 network in the marine environment. The pressure on Member States to do so will be further increased once the so-called Marine Strategy Directive will be adopted which is foreseen for early 2008.

ESPO has been very active during the last years to assist port authorities in finding sustainable solutions which are in line with the objectives of the Natura 2000 network. ESPO published early 2007 a specific code of practice for port authorities to deal with the impact of EU nature protection legislation.

> Download Guidance Document
> Download Annex 1: Marine Habitat types definitions
> Download Annex 2: Existing marine Habitat types and Species 
> Download Annex 3: Matrix as a management tool 
> Download Annex 4a: Good experiences 
> Download Annex 4b: Life and the Marine Environment    
> Download Annex 5: Bibliography 

ESPO represents the seaports of the Member States of the European Union and has observer members from several other European countries. Read the latest News Release from ESPO, and learn about:

• Commissonion appoints TEN-T coordinators for inland navigation and Motorways of the Sea


• Commission ensures the future of Galileo


• Commission publishes draft guidelines for maritime transport
  
• European maritime cluster commends Commission for opposition to US 100 % scanning law
  
• EP Environment Committee set to vote on air quality and marine quality
  
• GreenPort and EcoPorts to organize joint conference in 2008
  
• Commission launches consultation on its Green Paper on urban mobility
  
• European Investment Bank invests in new Zadar ferry port
  
• Call for tender for EU maritime transport policy options
  
• Julian Skelnik chairs Baltic Ports Organisation

On 11 June 2007 a large group of noise specialists from ports and environmental authorities from all over Europe discussed, in a one day conference in Civitavecchia (Rome), common solutions for growing noise problems. The conference was part of a European cooperation project, NoMEPorts, which focuses on the common implementation of the EC Noise Directive, NoMEPorts stands for Noise Management in European Ports.

Noise annoyance from traffic, industries and ports is seen as a growing environmental problem. The European Commission has created legislation, the European Noise Directive, to manage noise levels and to reduce them to acceptable levels. The NoMEPorts project, started by 11 European Ports in 2005, develops common management systems for the introduction of the Directive in practice.

The 1st Conference of NoMEPorts project was held with lot's of success in Civitavecchia, on 10-11 June 2007.

The photos from this Conference are now available here.
The presentations from this Conference can be downloaded here.

The ESPO 2007 Conference was held in Puerto de Algeciras and coincided with the closure of the Commission’s consultation exercise on a future EU policy for seaports. The conference brought together the findings of the thematic workshops organised by the Commission and compared views of stakeholders on the following issues of discussion:

• Sustainable development of seaports and hinterland connections
  
• Strengthening the performance of seaports as intermodal nodal points
  
• Ensuring transparency and fair competition in and between ports

The ESPO 2007 conference opened with a session that provided first-hand insight in the principal market, social and policy developments that drive European seaports. On this occasion, ESPO presented a new market analysis of the EU port sector, which was prepared by the Institute of Maritime and Transport Management Antwerp (ITMMA).

The conference concluded with a keynote address by Commissioner Barrot on the preparation of the Commission’s Seaport Policy Communication which is expected to be published in autumn this year.

> Proceedings and presentations can be found (if available) at the ESPO website

EcoPorts Foundation is currently working on compiling a booklet under the subject:

"Ports towards sustainability - Good practises of environmental care in European Ports”


The booklet aims to show that Ports are coming up with cost effective solutions to comply with environmental regulation.

The booklet will be distributed to all European ports but also among governmental organisations, port related stakeholders and inhabitants.

The idea is to include good practise solutions related to different port environmental issues, such as: port waste, ship waste, dredging, dust/air quality, noise, water quality, bunkering, hazardous cargo and port development.

We would like to invite all port managers to contribute to this booklet by sending us a cost effective solution that your port implemented for any of the above (or not) environmental issue.

To be a part of this, you only need to send us...

- a short description of the problem
- a short description of the solution
- a description of the actual costs
- a description of the benefits
- good quality photos of the solution or other port activities

...and your solution will "travel" all around Europe (and not only)!!!

How to send your solution and photos:
- by e-mail to: foundation@ecoports.com
- by post to: EcoPorts Foundation, De Ruijterkade 7, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

For more information contact Narasha Bakkers
- by phone (+31 (0)20 5234 805)
- by e-mail narasha.bakkers@ecoports.com

The last 2 years, EcoPorts Foundation was involved, providing scientific support & technical expertise for the project:

"Establishing scientific support for environmental management for ports in Vietnam and Cambodia", funded by the Asia Pro Eco Programme of the European Commission.

Now that the project has come to an end, 3 ports from Vietnam and 2 from Cambodia have joined the EcoPorts Network in order to ensure continuity in their activities towards sustainable port management.

The port managers have been trained in the use of several Ecoports tools such as the SDM and the Solutions Database. Now they are committed to proceed to PERS certification.

The ports involved in this project, are:
- Phnom Penh Autonomous Port, Cambodia
- Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, Cambodia
- Dinh Vu Liquid Port, Vietnam
- Da Nang Port, Vietnam
- Phu My Port, Vietnam

Last week 2 more Spanish ports, namely the Autoridad Portuaria de A Coruña and Autoridad Portuaria de Castellón, as well as the first port from Northern Ireland, the Belfast Harbour Commissioners have joined the Ecoports Network.

Soon detailed profiles, as well as photos and good-practice solutions of the above-mentioned ports will become available on the Ecoports Web-Site.

The Port of Felixstowe has been awarded a PERS certificate, for its environmental considerations. PERS, or ‘Ports Environmental Review System’, is an independent environmental verification scheme. It was developed by the EcoPorts Foundation, a network of ports and port-related stakeholders, and Lloyds Register, to commend those ports it recognises as demonstrating a ‘duty of care’ to the communities in which they operate. The certificate was awarded at a presentation ceremony in Genoa, Italy, on Thursday 14th December 2006.

An Environmental Report has been published by Hutchison Ports (UK) Limited, to record the Port of Felixstowe’s environmental commitments. This includes a Register of Environmental Aspects, which details a number of impacts created by the Port’s operations, and the actions taken to mitigate them. The Report also features initiatives that have been set up to manage the Port’s environmental commitments.

The Port is represented on a number of local environmental groups, such as the Stour and Orwell Estuaries Management Group, and the Landguard Forum. It also has its own Environmental Committee and Working Group, which is attended by Heads of Department from Engineering, Marine, Corporate Affairs, and Safety.

On Thursday the 14th and Friday the 15th of December 2006 the EcoPorts Foundation annual Conference took place in Genoa, Italy. It was a great success. More than 100 participants from 21 different countries gathered together in the beautiful Palazzo san Giorgio, head office of the Port Authority of Genoa. A short conference summary is available here. The presentations of the Conference are now available to download here. Photos from this Conference are also available here.

This week 1 UK-port, the Port of Felixstowe and 1 Spanish port, the Port of Castellon, conluded their Port Environmental Review System and received the Ecoports PERS Certificate.

Meanwhile, Valencia Port Authority and Harwich Haven Authority have successfully renewed their PERS certification for another 2 years.

Congratulations to all above 4 ports!

See the most updated list of PERS-certified ports here.

The Associated British Ports (ABP) of Southampton, Goole, Immingham, Grimsby and Hull have successfuly achieved the Ports Environmental Review System (PERS) Certificate of Verification. ABP now have 10 ABP Pers certified ports in total.