The editorial of Dock Infos #117:
Climate change: Time to act!On 25 September 2019, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its latest report, specifically devoted – for the first time – to the oceans and the cryosphere. This report demands my attention both as an inhabitant of the earth and, of course, as President of AIVP.
The 6th Port Citizen workshop, held on 24 and 25 October 2019 in collaboration with the Bilbao Port Authority (Spain), was attended by over 50 people from ten different countries. Some of the participants run existing Port Centers, while others are looking at the possibility of opening new Port Centers in their cities. The event was an opportunity for all to share their experiences and practices.
Interview with Mr. Ricardo Barkala Zumelzu – President of the Bilbao Port Authority
The Port of Bilbao is the largest port on the Atlantic coast of Spain and one of the principal ports of the country, with a cargo flow of almost 36 million tons in 2018. At the same time, the metropolitan area of the city of Bilbao has a population of over one million inhabitants. In recent decades, the urban waterfront has undergone major modifications, known all over the world for its most symbolic construction, the Guggenheim Museum. However, city-planning is much more complex than the famous cultural installation; plans have had to be developed for the Abandoibarra zone, and more recently for Zorrotzaurre. The port has played a fundamental role in this transformation process, releasing land and relocating some of its operations along the waterfront. The new configuration of the port implies new challenges, like maintaining contact with the citizens now that they do not have as direct a connection with port activities as they used to.
The event took place on Monday 30 September and Tuesday 1 October. It was the last stage of a cruise benchmarking process carried out by AIVP at the request of stakeholders in Le Havre.
The aim of the exercise was to support efforts to create conditions for sustainable development of the vibrant cruise activity in Le Havre by the period 2020-2025, and to make the area around the cruise ship docks a real asset contributing to the attractiveness of the City Port of Le Havre.
Interview with Jamie Cudden, Smart City Lead – Dublin City Council.
Officially launched in February 2018, Smart Docklands is the result of various initiatives launched in the past years. The programme concerns a district which currently home 500 businesses, 44,000 workers and 26,000 residents. The priorities for this smart district are the mobility, environment, buildings and infrastructures.
Could the innovative solutions currently being tested and/or implemented in Dublin be replicated by AIVP port cities members who are facing the same challenges? Let’s talk with Jamie Cudden, Smart City Lead – Dublin City Council.
At the invitation of the Nice Cote d’Azur Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Olivier Lemaire, General Manager of AIVP, travelled to Antibes on 17 September 2019 to speak at the workshop of the European “Great Accessible Tyrrhenian Itinerary” project (known as GRITACCESS) on port heritage. This European programme, aimed at promoting access to heritage and the development of a tourist network, involves 15 partners from five cross-border regions. In his speech, Olivier Lemaire highlighted the importance of capitalising on the heritage and architecture of port cities.
Denis Davoult, head of urban affairs at AIVP, travelled to Saint-Malo (France) on 10 September 2019 to meet two members of the association: the Union Maritime et Portuaire (Maritime & Port Union), and the Ille-et-Vilaine Chamber of Commerce (CCI), which holds the concession to operate the Port of Saint-Malo. Below is a brief report on the issues facing the town and the port.
At the invitation of AVITEM (Agency for Sustainable Mediterranean Cities and Territories) and the urban network Vivapolis, Olivier Lemaire, General Manager of AIVP, took part in a round table on City Port relations in the Mediterranean.
The city of Mariupol (Ukraine) has just become the newest member of the AIVP network. It is the first Ukrainian city to join us, adding yet another country to the list of members. To mark the occasion, the city invited AIVP to take part in a forum on port cities, held on 17 July 2019.
CCI Marseille Provence, Grand Port Maritime de Marseille and Aix-Marseille Université organised the first Smart Port Day on Thursday 4 July in Warehouse J1, an emblematic location for the City Port integration in full swing on the port of La Joliette. On this occasion, the 7 award-winners of the Smart Port Challenge, launched last year, presented the results of their work. The innovation and quality of the projects, carried out in partnership between Start-ups and established businesses, show the importance which must be given to human capital in contemporary City Port dynamics. .
