Category Archives: Article

Rwanda: Four ports on Lake Kivu earmarked as an alternative to road transport

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 Mobility 

Lake Kivu in western Rwanda marks the border with the neighbouring DRC. The four ports will be built with the help of the Netherlands, and spread out from the north to the south of the lake. They will promote improved mobility for passengers and goods between the various districts along the bank. Within twenty years, they should handle the majority of commercial cross-border trade and some 3 million passengers. The Government is also keen to use the ports as a platform for more ambitious plans to kick-start water-based transport on other lakes and rivers in Rwanda. The aim is to reduce the use of onshore transport infrastructures, maintenance of which represents a significant portion of the national budget. Finally, the project will help to boost competitiveness for both the food industry (beer, tea, coffee) and the cement industry, while also giving a lift to the tourist sector.

➜ The New times

An innovation campus in the Dublin Docklands (Ireland)

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 Human capital 

Google set up shop in the district in 2003, and was soon joined by other global giants including Facebook, Amazon, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The Irish government will contribute funding to the Technology Campus of Trinity College Dublin. The project represents a new piece of the innovation district developing in the Grand Canal Quay area. The campus will play a unifying role for the local innovation ecosystem, bringing together the major groups already present, along with start-ups, educational and research institutions, etc.

➜ Observateur OCDE ; Irish times ; Newstalk (+ video)

 

Action plan for a City Port district in Port-Louis (Mauritius)

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 Port city interface 

The action plan concerns a listed heritage district located on the boundary with the active port. The aim is to create synergies between the development projects of the various stakeholders concerned. A number of projects have been planned to regenerate the existing heritage and create new facilities, including cultural amenities. The plan is being sponsored by the Ministry of Housing and Land.

➜ Défi média ; Plan d’action (pdf)

 

University and port work together in Sevilla (Spain)

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 Human capital 

The new Centre for University Innovation of the Port of Sevilla will be placed in the port territory, counting with 16 million € of EU financing. A committee selected in the beginning of 2020 the first 20 innovation projects, each of them including an industrial PhD. These researches will focus on topics such as renewable energies production and storage, new materials, Internet of things, logistics, blockchain in the food industry or marine detection of hazardous substances. The research projects must be operational before the end of 2021. This initiative shows the path towards fruitful collaboration between academia and industry, a relationship that has not always been easy, but it is crucial to answer to upcoming challenges.

➜ ABC, Diario de Sevilla

Young maritime professionals will get more opportunities in Panama

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 Human capital 

A new program named “My first maritime work experience” has been. This program will give to young professionals the opportunity to learn about the different careers in the Panamanian maritime authority. It results of a collaboration between the maritime affairs and labour ministries, inspired by the national initiative “learning by doing”. The directorate of Gente de Mar (People from the Sea), will be in charge of forming the new generations of maritime professionals. The Maritime University of Panamá and the Panamanian Association of Navy Officers selected the first group of 20 trainees from different areas such as nautical sciences, shipbuilding or maritime administration. In the six-month period the young professionals will go through training to later join the different functions under the supervision of staff from the maritime authority.

➜ Autoridad Marítima de Panamá

Restoring nature to the city: the Gabiodiv’ project in Lyons (France)

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 Biodiversity 

Gabiodiv’ aims to restore aquatic environments and promote biodiversity in and around water courses whose banks have largely been concreted over, in Lyons as in many other port cities. Metal cages are attached to the quayside, with plants placed on them. They will be installed in public areas. The project is intended to have an educational impact and raise public awareness about the importance of natural heritage.

➜ Lyon capitale ; Gabiodiv.fr

Three European ports speed up towards carbon neutrality

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 Energy transition and circular economy 

Several European ports have presented their plans to reduce their carbon footprint in the coming years. The port of Helsinki (Finland), drafted the Carbon-Neutral Port 2035 including 50 measures, mostly destined to reduce the port’s emissions and those from vessels. These measures combine reducing the energy usage, acquiring energy from carbon-neutral sources and carbon offsets to compensate the remaining emissions. One example of the actions to be taken is the new price list for port operations, including significant “environmental” discounts. The port of Amsterdam (The Netherlands) is even more ambitious, aiming at carbon neutrality in 2030. Its priority is to boost clean energy production at port, such as the new project to generate hydrogen using electrolysis. Amsterdam port is also developing maritime wind energy fields. In Hamburg (Germany), the main terminal operator HHLA, wants to become carbon neutral by 2040, by using green electricity for all its operations. The company already reduced the CO2 emissions of container operations by 30% in 2019, aiming at 50% until 2030. The main challenge will be in the future to make the complete logistic chain carbon neutral.

➜ Port of Helsinki, Portal Portuario, GreenPort

An innovation hub for Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)

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 Port city interface 

An innovation ecosystem is set to be created in the east of the city, on the edge of the Saigon river. It will bring together the worlds of academia and research, entrepreneurship, business, and the local community. The 22,000 site earmarked will be developed with six specific zones. They include a former river port, which has been selected to become a showcase for the smart city. Flood risks have also been taken into account. The ambitious project aims to cover a wide range of areas, including economic development, art and culture, research and education, high technology, eco-tourism, food industry, mobility, and resilience, making it a fine source of inspiration for many port cities.

➜ Archdaily (+ images, plans)

Whale protection program of the Port of Vancouver (Canada) celebrates 5 years

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 Biodiversity 

The Enhancing Cetacean Habitat and Observation (ECHO) Program was created in 2014. It has ever since gathered a broad and diverse group of advisors, under the leadership of the port authority to protect the endangered southern resident killer whales. In order to do so, the ECHO program has measured the noise levels of more than 10 000 ships in the Salish Sea. Over 5000 vessels have voluntarily slowed down or detoured to protect the feeding area of this cetacean from underwater noise. The program also offered resources to help mariners to raise awareness of the effects ships can have on these animals. The program has produced in this period several documents including a “Mariner’s Guide to Whales, Dolphins, Porpoises of Wester Canada”, the “Whales in our Waters tutorial” or the app WhaleReport Alert System, besides yearly reports and scientific papers.

➜ Port of Vancouver 1, Port of Vancouver 2, Google Play, Inhabitat

EU project Ecclipse to assess climate change impact in ports

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 Climate change 

Besides assessing the impact of climate change in South European ports, the project also ambitions to develop tools and predictive models to understand the impact at a local scale. Ecclipse also wants to increase awareness to the problems climate change will cause in port cities, contributing to define transnational prevention and adaptation strategies. According to the project responsible, existing models are developed at global, the project wants to complement them providing a local perspective that can be more useful for decision making processes. The project led by the Valenciaport Foundation, also includes the port of Valencia (Spain), Aveiro (Portugal) and Bordeaux (France), besides the support from Puertos del Estado, Hidromod and Cerema for technological support.

➜ Europa Press, Fundacion Valenciaport