Climate initiatives including the World Ports Climate Action Program and the World Ports Sustainability Programme took centre stage at the first day of the GreenPort Cruise & Congress being held in Valencia, Spain, on 16-19 October. Meanwhile, the event touched upon how the industry needs to balance a mix of priorities and investments to meet the upcoming 2020 sulphur cap.
In his welcome address, Michael McCarthy, Chairman, Cruise Europe, explained how investment would be needed by ports to meet both the 2020 sulphur limit and other demands.
The diversity of new technologies means that different shipping lines are making different choices. This may imply diverse and costly port investments. The question many ports are facing is which investments to make to avoid a chicken and egg situation.
Addressing the impact on ports of larger cruise vessels and new environmental strategies, Valeria Mangiarotti, Director of Environmental Issues, MedCruise, said that ports need to adopt energy plans to achieve the greenest possible self-sufficiency, seeking policy integration between cruise lines and ports.
In addition, Maximo Caletrio, Cruise Programme Director, Valencia Tourism, described the host of GreenPort Europe 2018, Valencia, as a cruise-friendly city.
Cruise tourism has increased from just 18 calls in 2000, about 10,000 passengers, to a forecast for this year of nearly 200 cruise calls and more than 420,000 passengers. This growth is due to the adaptation of the port and new infrastructure.
On this issue, Juan Ignacio Buenestado, LNG Bunkering, business development, Naturgy, highlighted:
There are increasing concerns about pollution by bigger ships in the cities. LNG is a pragmatic bridge to the future, but the question is how long will this bridge be? We have an incentive to introduce LNG as a real alternative fuel.
Meanwhile, representatives of two new port cooperation climate initiatives followed and discussed their programmes in a session moderated by Rachael White, CEO Secretariat, The International Cargo Handling Coordination Association (ICHCA).
Victor Schoenmakers, Director of Corporate Strategy, Port of Rotterdam, introduced the World Ports Climate Action Program, which was launched in September 2018 and is a cooperative venture between the ports of Hamburg, Barcelona, Antwerp, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Vancouver and Rotterdam.
Antonis Michail, Project Coordinator, World Ports Sustainability Programme, International Association of Ports & Harbours (IAPH) spoke about the World Ports Sustainability Programme, which IAPH launched earlier this year.
We have a big and ambitious agenda. WPSP is an umbrella initiative for the international port sector that embeds and brings together all the most important international port-related organisations. We want to highlight the good work ports do on sustainability when working collectively.
Isabelle Ryckbost, Secretary General, ESPO, presented the organisation’s Environmental Report for European Ports 2018. Nineteen member – states participated in the report, which incorporates data from 90 ports.
GreenPort Congress began on 16 October, ending on 19 October with a technical visit where attendees will have the opportunity to see the three main container terminals of the Port of Valencia.