Bremenports has been awarded the ESPO Award 2016 in recognition of its strategies in safeguarding and further upgrading the nature and ecosystem in the port area (on land and/or waterside). The ESPO Award was handed out by DG MOVE’s Director General, Henrik Hololei, during a ceremony at the Egmont Palace in Brussels on Wednesday night.
The theme of this year’s ESPO Award was ‘Nature in Ports’. Bremenports GmbH & Co. KG won the 2016 Award for its project, Luneplate, which is the first project to implement large and varied tidal habitats behind the main dyke in connection with a special flood barrage.
The project is an excellent example of an integrated approach combining economy and ecology, bringing world port development requests together with the needs of a very sensitive environment, i.e. the UNESCO World Heritage Area “Wadden Sea”.
On the basis of intensive stakeholder communications, a sustainable solution has been created that will also be successful under the conditions of climate change. Intensive monitoring stated the effective implementation. The comprehensive visitors’ concept opens the area to the public and provides transparent information. Last but not least, the Luneplate project is an example of organisational changes to a better societal integration of ports.
The ESPO Award 2016 saw 11 projects from ports from all over Europe compete for the prize. Bremenports GmbH & Co. KG beat shortlisted projects from the ports of Cartagena, Dunkirk, Guadeloupe and Riga.
Source & Image Credit: ESPO
