The 20th anniversary of the GreenPort Congress kicked off in Malta with a clear message – think globally, act locally when it comes to sustainability at your operation.
Kurt Farrugia, CEO, Transport Malta welcomed the delegates to the Congress. He explained that Malta has a great deal of responsibility, especially with regards to cruise, to get better with efficiency and drive down the impact on communities in the area. The Grand Harbour’s shore power system, which went into operation last year, is reducing port emissions by 90%.
“We’re choosing to lead by example and that includes creating an environment where stakeholders can test and trial innovation,” said Mr Farrugia.
The next phase will include branching out even further to broaden the energy transition. Malta is working on hydrogen, methanol and biofuels projects to both serve the nation’s energy transition goals and the requirements under the new Fuel EU requirements.
The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) used the first session of the Congress to talk in depth about its 2025 Environmental Report. Mr Tim Verhoeven, senior policy adviser, sustainable development, ESPO, revealed that the top three concerns for ports this year were: Climate change, air quality and then energy efficiency.
These are largely unchanged from previous years, but the fourth largest concern was land-related port development. This has been moving up the board in relation to considerations that ports now have over the increased space needed for alternative fuel facilities and bunkering.
To be also noted, 69% of ports said they are experiencing operational challenges related to climate change and 88% are considering adaptation of port infrastructure.
Concerns remain over insufficient grid infrastructure and around half of respondents and concerns remain with hydrogen, methanol and biofuels, in particular with regards to safety and regulation.
The second day of the GP Congress began with a central message: Policy drives everything, but strategy is the action that makes things happen. The discussion on the challenges for EU ports and how they could be addressed comes at a critical time when the EU is developing the new EU Ports Strategy were at the heart of the keynote presentations from ESPO and FEPORT.
Ms Lamia Kerdjoudj, secretary general of FEPORT, said that updates to the EU Ports Strategy are much needed given the ever-changing geopolitical context.
In the past, ports only had to worry about civil and commercial activities – now they are multi-faceted, balancing the objectives of business and competitiveness with the energy transition, digitalisation, resilience and military mobility, among many other things.
FEPORT Secretary General explained that it is urgent now to have a ‘State Aid framework for ports’ which can be used by Member States to boost the competitiveness of the EU port sector as it faces ever bigger challenges and fierce competition from non-EU countries.
This, she said, would provide predictable, transparent rules to reduce legal and financial risk, promote a level playing field, encourage investment and support the development of modern infrastructure.
