This might be the big challenge for the year and probably years to come. Giving an economic outlook for Europe\u2019s ports might become a mission impossible and will require next to a full impact analysis of the policy ambitions and regulatory context, a deep understanding \u2013 or at least an attempt \u2013 of the geopolitical context. Besides, port strategists do not only have to look at transport and logistics but also at energy markets.<\/p>\n
Moving forward<\/strong><\/p>\n Looking at the policy side, we expect final breakthroughs and agreements on the for ports most relevant pillars of the Fit for 55 package, being the new Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulation, the Fuel EU maritime initiative, the Emission Trading scheme for shipping and a new renewable energy target.<\/p>\n These policy measures will be amongst others a main driver for huge investments in onshore power supply and overall investments in new energies and their related supply chains in ports. Moreover, just before the end of the year, the EU Council agreed on an urgency measure which will allow for smoother permitting procedures for renewable energy projects, also in ports.<\/p>\n The measure will be in place until summer 2024 and is one of the initiatives taken by the Commission in the context of the RepowerEU plan to respond to the current energy crisis by boosting renewables. While national governments have agreed with the strict and short deadlines for issuing permits in that context, it remains to be seen how successful it will be applied. Will it be a game changer for the sometimes very difficult permitting processes in Member States?<\/p>\n Uncertainty<\/strong><\/p>\n But next to the many new policy measures, we are living in a new geopolitical reality with many factors of uncertainty and change. Europe\u2019s ports are in the middle of all this. I am not the right person to draw the full picture but let me flag up some points.<\/p>\n It is clear that the Russian invasion in Ukraine is in the first place impacting Europe and hence its ports. How long will this take, how will this evolve?<\/p>\n China is \u201copening\u201d again but is at the same time going through a severe Covid wave as far as we know and can judge. Will the positive effects of the opening up be hampered by high illness rates and leading again to temporary closures of production units and disruptions? Or will the opening up rather push the demand for energy in China and put again additional pressure on Europe\u2019s energy needs and prices?<\/p>\n What will be the impact of the US inflation reduction act? Will it as some say put a spoke in the wheel of Europe\u2019s ambitions on renewable energy? And what about the huge inflation rates we are seeing in Europe. How will these slow down the planned investments into greening?<\/p>\n It is clear that setting course for the new year will not be so easy, but I do believe that the resilience and agility that Europe\u2019s ports have demonstrated over the last years are important factors to navigate and lead the way forward.<\/p>\n It will also be important for Europe, the member states and their respective governments to understand that ports are part of the solution and need to be supported in their role. Ports must be recognised in their wider role and cannot any longer be judged only on the number of tonnes or teu that are passing through the ports.<\/p>\n Their strategic role, their contribution to the energy supply, in particular the renewable energy supply, will need to be considered as well. At ESPO we hope that this more comprehensive role is looked at in the review of Europe\u2019s Transport Infrastructure policy, another policy initiative on our table this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How do you start a new year with new intentions, ambitions and strategies in a world full of uncertainties?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[176,851,300,509,210,299],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-2991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insight-opinion-greenport","tag-espo","tag-european-union","tag-fit-for-55","tag-isabelle-ryckbost","tag-opinion","tag-policy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2993,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2991\/revisions\/2993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2991"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=2991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}