On 15 May, the Port of Ghent received a PERS certification during a dedicated ceremony at the ESPO annual conference in Gothenburg.

Mr Olivier Onidi, Director for the European Mobility Network in DG MOVE handed over the PERS certificate to Daan Schalck, CEO of Ghent Port Authority.

“We congratulate the Port of Ghent for achieving the Port Environmental Review System (PERS) certification, in particular since the port of Ghent is the first Belgian port to achieve PERS certification and a loyal supporter of EcoPorts” said ESPO’s Chairman Santiago Garcia Mila.

PERS is the only port sector specific environmental management standard. It is the flagship product of the EcoPorts network and is offered as part of the ESPO services to its members through the EcoPorts website. Compliance with the PERS standard is independently assessed by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance and the certificate has a validity of 2 years.

ESPO is delighted on the increased interest shown to PERS by European port authorities and encourages more ports within its membership to implement the scheme and to get certified.