Two new intermodal river transport projects have been unveiled in New York (United States) in recent weeks. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has announced plans to create a new platform to move construction materials for the JFK airport redevelopment by river. The solution will remove more than 300,000 truck journeys from the city’s roads. In addition to the infrastructure created to allow barge transport, a recycling centre dedicated to construction waste will help to boost the circular economy. Another pilot scheme in Manhattan will see packages delivered by electric quad-bikes and ferries, with the bikes loaded onto ferries, allowing trucks to reach the centre of the city.

The first ever edition of the ‘Assises Nationales du Fleuve’ took place on the 2nd and 3rd of October. Organised by the inland waterway transport federation (Entreprises Fluviales de France), the event aims to bring together the many different French stakeholders in the sector for the first time. The plenary sessions touched on a host of important issues ranging from governance, the attractiveness of different regions, climate change adaptation, and the inland waterway economy.

During the Ports Canada Convention, which took place in Trois-Rivières between September 11th and 13^th, the port authority presented two new monuments in the park adjacent to its offices. These monuments were constructed in recognition of a partnership with the Abenaki First Nation, with whom the port collaborates on a daily basis. The monuments are a sign of respect and recognition and highlight the contributions of indigenous peoples. The park was renamed to reflect the importance of the First Nations as well and the port hopes to welcome more artistic initiatives by First Nations in the years to come.

A working session was recently held in Copenhagen (Denmark) by the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Centre for Zero Carbon Shipping. Several major partners were in attendance at the event, which aimed to shape a safe green ammonia industry for the future. The Port of Rotterdam (Netherlands), an active member of AIVP, along with organisations including the American Bureau of Shipping, contributed to a study looking at ammonia safety on board vessels and during bunkering operations. While the fuel has the potential to cut the shipping industry’s carbon footprint, it must be completely safe for workers and residents of port cities.

An artificial energy island is a platform built near offshore wind farms and equipped with electrotechnical facilities including transformers. The green electricity generated by the wind turbines can be used to make green hydrogen via electrolysis, or injected straight into the power grid. But this requires a maintenance and export hub. The port of Ostend (Belgium) will perform this role for the energy island being developed off the coast of Flanders, the first of its kind in Europe. Belgian partners DEME and Jan de Nul will build the island from a base at the port of Vlissingen, creating at least 80 jobs.