In his presentation at the conference, Patrick Verhoeven (pictured), Secretary- General of ESPO, explained the pressure on ports to develop green logistics chains.
He reviewed the progress of the World Ports Climate Change initiative. WPCC is linked to the C40 initiative, endorsed earlier this year by 55 ports. European implementation of the initiative is the responsibility of ESPO, and Verhoeven reviewed the five key projects within the WPCC that are being examined:
• Clean Shipping: Headed by the Port of Rotterdam, this is developing a system of incentives and penalties to promote clean shipping. It is not the intention to harmonise the incentives, just to harmonise the methodology
• Shore Power: Led by the Port of Gothenburg (which was the first commercial port to introduce shore power technology for ships at its Stora terminal in 2000), the project is being co-ordinated with Los Angeles, Shanghai and Rotterdam
• Port Emissions: Headed by the Port of New York & New Jersey (with Long Beach and Rotterdam) this project will examine: terminal operations, shore-power for inland navigation, inland vessels and buildings efficiency. It will also consider lease agreements from Port Authorities to Terminal Operators
• Use of Renewable Energy: This will focus on the use of alternative sources of energy, including windmills (such as those at Marseille), wind farms (ABP) and electrical vehicles
• CO2 footprint: The lead port for this project is the Port of Oslo, which will be developing a common methodology for measuring a port’s carbon footprint
Verhoeven outlined the way forward including:
• Development of an environmental Code of Practice
• Use of EcoPorts tools
• Clearly defined policy by regulators
• Co-operation with AAPA
The reduction of GHG needs to be part of a Ports daily management and small scale initiatives can have an impact. However, regulators need to clarify their legal requirements, to enable ports to implement correct procedures.
