The city of Nice (France) is committed to a long-term policy of investment in public infrastructure with a focus on its maritime heritage. One of its flagship initiatives is the ambitious new “Oceania” waterfront congress center, in the middle of the port complex itself. Some 94% of the materials used in the construction of this multi-purpose 10,600 m² facility are either recyclable or reusable. The center is currently occupied by the United Nations until 13 June 2025, as it prepares to host the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC). Meanwhile, Nice celebrated the traditional water festival on 4 May in partnership with ADRASIE, a nonprofit organization that works to promote South-East Asian culture.

The Philippines is planning to build over 200 cold storage facilities and develop deep-sea port infrastructure to support the distribution of agricultural products. This initiative addresses a critical bottleneck in the nation’s food supply chain, particularly significant for an island country. The cold storage initiative is part of a broader master plan, the “Agricultural and Fisheries Logistics Office”, which also includes enhancements to road networks and the development of agricultural seaports. The facilities will feature energy-efficient systems and will be capable of operating on renewable energy sources. This project is a collaborative effort between the Department of Transportation, the Philippine Ports Authority, and the Department of Agriculture.

After 20 years in development, the Umi-no-Mori (Sea Forest) Park in Tokyo (Japan) opened at the end of March. First of its kind, the park is the result of a collaboration between the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Port and Harbor and citizens. Over 12 million tons of waste and construction soil were layered to build the foundation and native trees, grown in nearby schools, were planted by Tokyo’s residents using local compost. Built on reclaimed land, the park turned a wasteland into a beautiful scenic view on Tokyo’s Bay area. The project was part of Tokyo Government green urban development initiative, “Tokyo Green Biz”.

The Port of Seattle (USA), Northwest Seaport Alliance, and Seattle City Light are embarking on a joint strategy, titled “Seattle Waterfront Clean Energy Strategy” (SWCES), to eliminate emissions from Seattle’s working waterfront. SWCES was created to align electrical infrastructure improvements, technology investments, and implementation strategies to support the decarbonization goal of 2050. This is also in line with the city’s targets to reach net-zero emissions in the same time frame. Some findings that SWCES has made so far include that shore power for oceangoing vessels is vital for short term power demand; solutions to the anticipated exceeding of the present electrical capacity planning limits need to be developed by upgrading the existing electrical infrastructure. A total of $208-457 million in port and utility investments have been identified through 2050.

Port Seine Métropole Ouest (PSMO) (France) is a new multimodal platform being developed by HAROPA Port. Construction has already begun and is set to be completed in a series of phases going forward to 2040, with the aim of growing river and rail traffic in the Ile-de-France region around Paris. The project recently entered a new phase with measures to consolidate the riparian forest, which acts like a buffer zone between the terrestrial and aquatic environments and is a hotbed for biodiversity, while helping to mitigate erosion of the river banks. The main purpose of this phase is to install banks of aquatic plants to filter water, along with more plants on land – protected by geotextiles made from coconut fiber – to stabilize the banks. Altogether, these measures represent a pre-tax investment of €115,000 for the port.

In January 2024, the Morrocan National Port Agency launched a reorganization project and handed consultancy firm Ariskan a €113,223 contract to create a new integrated risk management system. The project aims to map strategic and operational risks, adopt digital risk management procedures, and bring the Agency’s governance arrangements into line with ISO 31000 and COSO standards. The Agency has also asked the firm CID to look at the feasibility of equipping the ports of Laâyoune, Boujdour, and Dakhla with desalination plants powered by renewable energy, as part of efforts to make port infrastructures more resilient to the effects of climate change.