Four ports renew EcoPorts’ PERS

Isabelle Ryckbost, ESPO’s secretary general, and Sotiris Raptis, EcoPorts coordinator, handed over the PERS certificates to the ports’ representatives during the GreenPort Congress in Valencia.

“As we have seen in the ESPO Environmental Report 2018, the sector is doing better and it is important to communicate this progress to the local communities and the port users,” said Ms Ryckbost.

“PERS helps ports further improve their environmental performance and comply with the existing regulations. The four ports show very clearly how port growth and better environmental performance go hand in hand,” she added.

Transparency important

To be PERS-certified, ports must increase their transparency by making their environmental report publicly available. Certification also indicates that the port is effectively monitoring the environmental challenges and is implementing an improved environmental management.

One third of the 98 EcoPorts members have now acquired PERS. Compliance with the PERS standard is independently assessed by Lloyd’s Register and the certificate has a validity of two years. PERS is revised after the two-year period to make sure that the port continues to meet the requirements.

“Currently, 73% of the European ports are certified under an environmental standard, increased by 19% since 2013; PERS has contributed significantly to that,” commented Mr Raptis.

The EcoPorts tools are available to ports and terminals outside Europe through the ECO Sustainable Logistic Chain Foundation (ECOSLC).