PERS certification at Congress

The recognition was given by EPSO during the official dinner at the GreenPort Congress in Copenhagen on 8 October.

Pascal Galichon, director of environmental department at the Port of Le Havre, said: “The ExoPorts tools SDM and PERS were useful to us both in raising environmental awareness within the port and in communicating with our stakeholders.”

“We are delighted to be certified and we highly recommend the EcoPorts approach to our fellow ports,” he added.

This is the first time that both ports have been certified by the EPSO and there are currently 20 ports in Europe that hold a valid PERS certificate.

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 ESPO services to its members through the EcoPorts website.

Mathias Guerin, the Port of Nantes-St-Nazaire’s project manager, said: “Besides the usefulness of PERS as the only port sector specific standard, the real added-value of EcoPorts is the network itself. It is great to be able to work and share experiences with fellow port professionals.”

ESPO said it was delighted with the increased interest shown to PERS by European port authorities and it encourages all ports within its membership to implement the scheme and receive a certification.