An international consortium, called PIONEERS, of 46 partners led by the Port of Antwerp will receive a €25 million (US$30 million) grant from the European Horizon 2020 programme to proceed with eco-friendlier actions and solutions.
The PIONEERS consortium representing leading ports, terminal and transport operators, forwarders, knowledge institutes, technology developers, innovators and public entities will showcase concrete solutions reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in ports while safeguarding their competitiveness.
The project has a timeframe of five years starting at the end of 2021 and is a highly ambitious project, rethinking all aspects of port operations ranging from terminal operations, concession agreements, mobility, connectivity, fuels to models for co-operation and production, storage and use of energy.
The PIONEERS consortium convinced evaluators with a variety of 19 ambitious demonstrators in the field of clean energy production and supply, sustainable port design, modal shift and flows optimisation, and digital transformation.
The actions include renewable energy generation and deployment of electric, hydrogen and methanol vehicles; building and heating networks retrofit for energy efficiency; implementation of circular economy approaches in infrastructure works; automation; and deployment of digital platforms to promote modal shift and ensure optimised vehicle, vessel and container movements.
The Port of Antwerp will host the majority of demonstrators and showcasing a real life Green Port. The ports of Barcelona, Constanta and Venlo, as fellow ports, will play an active role in maximising the transferability of the solutions and have been engaged to implement the best practices from the project.
Committed to becoming a carbon neutral port in 2050, the Port of Antwerp is convinced that greening ports will only be possible through partnerships and active dialogue with a wide stakeholder network, according to a statement.
“The Port of Antwerp aims to be the first world port that reconciles economy, people and climate, said Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO of the port. “PIONEERS proves how ambitious Port of Antwerp is in pioneering together with a wide stakeholder network to achieve our goal.”
Additionally, Annick De Ridder, the vice mayor of Antwerp commented, “This is an important milestone for the Port of Antwerp and the entire port community which shows we are on the track with our ambitions. We want to use this financial leverage to strengthen the further greening and sustainability of the port platform and to position our port as the ultimate Green Port of Europe.”
