IAPH Sustainability Awards

The IAPH 2022 Sustainability Awards took place during the official gala dinner of the IAPH World Ports Conference at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Canada.

“With projects from 26 different countries this year, we are delighted to see that such a diverse group of winners have been selected from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania by the jury and voters,” said Antonis Michail, IAPH technical director.

Groundbreaking initiatives

The first winner was DP World Posorja (DPWP), which as part of its “Our World, Our Future” strategy, began a local community Mangrove Plantation Program on 65 hectares with the Calisur Foundation in Guayas province, Puna Island.

This programme aims to create blue carbon ecosystems through mangroves in Ecuador with the aim of capture CO2 emissions and minimising the operator’s environmental impact. 

The EU-funded SeaClear-Project (2020-2023) took away an award for its work on developing an efficient, cost-effective and innovative solution for the detection and collection of marine debris on the seabed using autonomous robots.

Other winners included the World Ports Sustainability Program PASSport solution for safety and security in ports, Northport Malaysia’s strategic roadmap to Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) standards, the Solomon Islands Ports Authority’s renewable energy project for rural communities and the EU funded LIVING PORTS project at the Port of Vigo, which aims to shift away from obsolete “grey” construction and towards nature-inclusive infrastructure.

The Akiyama Award, which goes to the highest placed IAPH Sustainability Awards finalist runner-up from a developing country, went to Fiji Ports Corporation Limited, which is focusing on alleviating climate impacts through its Green Port Initiative by 2023.