Mercator Media organised the 8th GreenPort Congress in Antwerp from 9-11 October 2013. The event was hosted by the Port of Antwerp, which also hosted the very first GreenPort Congress held in 2006.

GreenPort Congress saw nearly 200 delegates from over 30 countries come together in Antwerp to discuss and debate in a series of working groups and plenary sessions

GreenPort Congress saw nearly 200 delegates from over 30 countries come together in Antwerp to discuss and debate in a series of working groups and plenary sessions

The GreenPort Congress included interactive sessions focussing on the themes of the ESPO Green Guide: Exemplify, Enable, Engage, Encourage and Enforce. According to the “5 E theory” presented in the Green Guide, port authorities can trigger environmental breakthroughs within their port areas by exemplifying, encouraging, enabling, engaging and enforcing. The Green Guide further argues that, notwithstanding the different port managing models throughout the European Union, every European port authority is able in some way to show environmental leadership.

The Congress saw nearly 200 delegates from over 30 countries come together in Antwerp to discuss and debate in a series of working groups and plenary sessions. Hot topics included air quality management in ports, waste and materials management in port areas, managing the direct impact on the community and environmental reporting and communication.

At the end of the Congress, a high level discussion was held between Patrick Verhoeven from ECSA, Dimitrios Theologitis from the European Commission, Charles Haine from Royal Haskoning, Gun Rudeberg from the Port of Stockholm Chairman of the ESPO Sustainable Development Committee, and Guy Janssens from the Port of Antwerp. The discussion, which involved all members of the audience, centred on how they projected ports should work towards an environmentally responsible port sector and mutually agreed that all stakeholders in the port should find a way to listen to each other and cooperate better.

A complete review of this year’s Congress will be included in the winter issue of GreenPort Magazine, which is going to be published in December. All papers and presentations given at the conference will be available to download from the GreenPort Congress soon.

Further information about the 2014 GreenPort Congress, which will be held in Barcelona and hosted by the Port of Barcelona on 15-17 October 2014, will be released soon. Please contact the Events Team on +44 (0) 1329 825335 or email congress@greenport.com.