The North Adriatic Sea Port Authority (NASPA) has been working to achieve sustainable development, according to the Three-Year Operational Plan 2018-2020 and the environmental policy objectives in compliance with ISO 14001, and now, thanks to the co-funding of the INTERREG ADRION SUPAIR project has achieved higher energy efficiency and containment of CO2 emissions.
Such a commitment is perfectly in line not only with the recent European Green Deal Agenda, but also with the 10 environmental priorities of the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO), among which energy consumption and climate change are of primary importance.
The method applied is based on the principle of continuous improvement, illustrated in the "Plan – Do – Check – Act" cycle, according to which NASPA has developed SUPAIR's activities starting from the definition of the state of the art and embracing a "3 step strategy": from the reduction of energy needs, to the introduction of technological innovations, to the use of renewable energy sources.
In addition to this, NASPA, aware of the importance of the involvement of stakeholders, has gone beyond the analysis of its own buildings, involving the port terminals to identify the actions to be taken to increase the energy efficiency of the port network and dock operations.
Thanks to a benchmark activity, a series of best practices have been identified at international level concerning measures and interventions to make port operations sustainable and energy efficient. In addition, a tool for the analysis of current and future consumption has been developed, again in cooperation with the port terminals, with the aim of monitoring and sharing the progress achieved year by year.
NASPA President Pino Musolino states: "I have made the sustainable development of the port system in Veneto the strategic objective of the Operational Plan that I started in 2017 and that I am bringing to a conclusion: in this context, SUPAIR project has played an important role under the profile of the process of analysis and comparison with stakeholders, essential steps to draw up and implement action plans for a sustainable port able to respond not only to needs expressed for the present, but also and above all to face the challenges that await us in the near future".
Note on the Supair Project The SUPAIR – SUstainable Ports in the Adriatic-Ionian Region project, financed by the Interreg Adrion V-B programme with a budget of almost 1.5 million euros, involves seven ports: Port System Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea (Trieste), Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea (Venice); Port Authority of Piraeus (Greece); Port Authority of Thessaloniki (Greece); Port of Koper (Slovenia); Port Authority of Durres (Albania); Port Authority of Bar (Montenegro). The aim was to plan port development in the low-carbon Adriatic-Ionian region. Nine steps were identified to carry out the analysis of the reduction of CO2 emissions produced by navigation and port operations on land. Three macro areas of intervention on which the guidelines were focused: reduction of energy consumption of vessels, reduction of energy consumption of buildings and port facilities, incentives to support terminal operators who invest in less energy-intensive systems/equipment and/or renewable energy sources.