Isabelle Ryckbost News

The European Parliament has officially adopted the Berendsen report, an own-initiative report on “building a comprehensive European Port Strategy” (585 in favor, 21 against, 26 abstentions).The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) welcomed the support for the strategic and vital role that Europe’s ports play for European society and economy. ESPO supports the Parliament’s plea to further harmonize the measures to strengthen the resilience and protection of Europe’s critical infrastructure, including ports.

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) has reiterated its support for an emissions trading scheme (ETS) as instrument for greening the shipping sector, but expresses its serious concern about first signs of carbon and business leakage due to the limited scope of the current legislation.For ESPO, the principle to consider calls to some transhipment ports neighbouring the EU as a “port of call” in the counting of the ETS charges is only a partial solution to the problem. ESPO agrees with the identification of Tanger Med and East Port Said as major neighbouring transhipments ports.

A meeting between the European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) and global trade association Interferry has agreed a common work programme to promote an environmentally sustainable future for the European ferry business through the provision and use of onshore power supply (OPS).Underlining the shared challenges and priorities of their Europe-wide memberships, ESPO and Interferry confirmed the following joint approach:1.Ferries must be recognized as a sustainable passenger transport mode that link Europe’s cities and regions, as well as providing a green mode of urban transport.

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO)  welcomes Europe’s ambition as enshrined in the European Green Deal, to become the world’s first climate neutral continent by 2050.European ports are at the crossroads of supply chains. As clusters of transport, energy, industry and blue economy, they add great value and are at the service of the European economy and society. They are a strategic partner in making this ambitious European project happen.In the coming weeks, ESPO and its members will put forward concrete proposals on how to contribute in the best and most effective way to implement the objectives of the Green Deal.“We share the European Green Deal ambition, which is in line with ESPO’s priorities for the period 2019-2024.

The sustainability of cruise activity in Europe is currently under pressure, says the European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO). European ports take the concerns expressed very seriously, it said.The vicinity to Europe’s cultural heritage and main must-sees makes many European port cities attractive tourist destinations. Their ports are or have become much demanded cruise ports.European port managing bodies are happy to be an access gate to Europe’s cultural heritage, but understand that they must do whatever is possible within their remit to keep this activity sustainable and acceptable for the local population.Over the last months, ESPO’s Cruise and Ferry Port Network has been reflecting on the way forward.

European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) congratulates Port of Barcelona (Spain), Port of Vigo (Spain) and Port of Baku (Azerbaijan) for getting EcoPorts’ environmental management standard (PERS).Isabelle Ryckbost, ESPO’s Secretary General, handed over the PERS certificates to the ports’ representatives during the Green Port Congress in Oslo.“I would like to congratulate Port of Barcelona and Port of Vigo for renewing EcoPorts’ environmental standard and Port of Baku for obtaining it for the first time. Ports in Europe are more than ever investing to improve their environmental performance and to get their “licence to operate” from the local community…

European ports have prepared a memorandum emphasising the role port managing bodies can play as facilitators of the port ecosystem in view of the European elections, which will lead to a new Commission, a new European Parliament and a new vision for Europe.The representative body of the port authorities, port associations and port administrations of the seaports of the member states of the European Union and of Norway, European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) has prepared a "ESPO memorandum", which identifies ten priorities, ten fields of action and importance for the next five years.The memorandum has been presented during the ESPO annual conference in Livorno…

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 74), which is commencing next week in London, will discuss an EU proposal on the exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers).The proposal, which has been submitted by the EU 28 Member States and the European Commission, aims to start the discussion at international level on the discharges from scrubbers into the water, especially in sensitive areas such as ports.To protect the water quality and to respect the EU standards imposed by the Water Framework Directive, some EU Member States have taken initiatives to limit liquid discharges from scrubbers in…

The European Seaports Organisation (ESPO) said it strongly supports the European Parliament’s call for an increased transport budget of EUR33.5 bn ($38bln).The budget proposed by the European Commission is insufficient to complete the TEN-T network and to invest in a safe, modern and sustainable transport network. Moreover, ESPO believes the proposed EUR10 bn transfer from the Cohesion Fund to Council on the future Connecting Europe Facility (CEF II) should be safeguarded. ESPO also welcomes the Common Understanding between the European Parliament and CEF II.“The Parliament has given a strong signal in favour of an increased transport budget for the coming years. We embrace this decision and hope it will be confirmed in the further negotiations.

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) said that it has been monitoring the gender balance through the effective attendance of port professionals to the different meetings of the organisation over the past year."The outcome of this monitoring reveals that, all technical committees together, overall 31,76% of port professionals attending the meetings were women, 68,24% men," announced the industry body.Looking in more detail into the different committees, the results of this monitoring reveals that the Port Governance committee, the Trade Facilitation, Customs and Security committee, the Sustainable Development committee and the Cruise…

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) welcomes the agreement reached on 7 February between the Parliament and the Council on the new regulation establishing a European Maritime Single Window environment (EMSWe).It said that with the new framework, which will repeal the current Reporting Formalities Directive, important steps are made towards reducing administrative burden and increasing the attractiveness of maritime transport. It provides for the creation of a EMSWe dataset, harmonised National Single Windows and the application of the reporting-only-once principle."We are very happy that the new framework is recognizing the bottom…

The European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism and the Industry Committee jointly adopted the Marinescu- Telička- Virrkkunen report on the Connecting Europe Facility proposal (CEF) 2021-2027.The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) welcomes the demand for an increased budget for transport. Members of the committees voted to raise the general envelope of the CEF transport budget by €7bn to €33.51bn (USD 7.94 bln to USD 38 bln) in constant prices.The significant role of transport for the development of the Union had been equally recognised by the Parliament’s request for a higher CEF transport budget during the vote on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).ESPO particularly appreciates the recognition of the cross-border potential of port projects.

The European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism has recently published the draft report on the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation establishing a European Maritime Single Window environment.The rapporteur, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Deirdre Clune of European People's Party (EPP)-Ireland rightly focuses in her draft report on the harmonisation of data elements and data sets, advocates the cooperation between customs and maritime authorities at both national and Union level and recognises that, even with a fully harmonised data set, competent authorities might for some reasons require additional data.The draft report moreover states that Member states should allow the use of port community systems…

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) has released its annual Environmental Report which includes member ports' top 10 environmental priorities for 2018.Air quality has remained the top priority of the European ports since 2013. The increased interest in the relationship with local community in position four of the list is relevant as air quality has been increasingly a concern for citizens of port cities and urban areas.Climate change is becoming of high relevance for European ports. It made it in the Top 10 for the first time in 2017 and climbed to the position seven in 2018. Almost eight out of ten European ports take into consideration climate change when they develop new infrastructure projects.

The Transport Committee of the European Parliament adopted the Meissner report on the Port Reception Facilities and gave a mandate to the Rapporteur to start negotiations with the Council to finalise the text of the new law.The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) welcomes in particular the proposal to strengthen the ‘polluter pays’ principle by discouraging the delivery of unreasonable quantities of garbage, including dangerous waste, for a fixed fee.This proposal will better protect marine environment by increasing the quantities of waste delivered at ports. It aims to make sure that ships deliver their garbage at every port call…

The EU Commissioner for transport, Violeta Bulc, visited the Port of Los Angeles as part of a longer mission to the US and Costa Rica on Thursday 27 September.The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) was invited to support the visit and contribute to the roundtable discussion  with Violeta Bulc, Gene Seroka (CEO of the Port of Los Angeles), Santiago Garcia Mila, (Deputy Director General, Port of Barcelona), Jens Meier (President of the Port of Hamburg), Victor Schoenmakers (Director Corporate Strategy, Port of Rotterdam). ESPO was represented by its Chairman, Eamonn O ‘Reilly, and its Secretary General, Isabelle Ryckbost.The roundtable…

The Transport committee of the European Parliament supported yesterday the removal of tax barriers for the uptake of shore-side electricity supply (OPS) in ports for ships at berth.The Ertug report on the deployment of infrastructure for alternative fuels in the EU which was voted by the Transport committee, pointed out that taxation has a major impact on the price competitiveness of alternative fuels and underlined that disparities in energy taxation for shore-side supply for ships should be addressed.European ports welcome the vote in the Parliament and believe that energy taxation on electricity has been a significant barrier for the uptake of shore-side electricity for ships…

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) welcomes the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation establishing a European Maritime Single Window environment, stated a ESPO Secretariat.For European ports though, reducing the administrative burden in maritime transport and facilitating trade is a top priority. ESPO wants more ambition on the harmonisation of data definitions and data sets, while maintaining the existing reporting systems, it said in a press release.This would further reduce the administrative burden and would facilitate trade. This is the guiding principle of ESPO’s position paper in response to the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation establishing a European Maritime Single Window environment which was published on 17 May.For European ports…

The investment needs of European ports over the next ten years amount to 48 billion EUR. Many port investments score high in creating societal value but the return on investment for the investor, the port managing body, is often low and slow.For these investments, external funding is needed. Ports have only been able to obtain 4% of the CEF transport budget over the last three years. These are the main results from the Study European Seaports Organisation (ESPO) launched in spring 2018 in preparation of the Connecting Europe facility II proposal which came out on 6 June 2018.ESPO welcomes the CEF II proposal and appreciates the efforts…

Turi Fiorito has been appointed as new Director of the European Federation of Inland Ports (EFIP). He will take up his function on 20 August, 2018. Turi Fiorito comes with a solid background in EU policy making and transport, having worked as Transport Policy Advisor for a Dutch Member of the European Parliament, Wim van de Camp. In that capacity, Turi has been working on different port (Port Services Regulation), rail (4th railway package) and inland waterway issues for a number of years. Before joining the European Parliament, Turi worked as a European Affairs Assistant at the Dutch Airline company KLM and started his career as a Consultant for a global public affairs consultancy, based in Brussels.

ESPO congratulates Port of Dunkerque (France) for obtaining for the first time EcoPorts’ environmental management standard (PERS). Isabelle Ryckbost, ESPO’s Secretary General, handed over the PERS certificate to Stéphane Raison, CEO of Port Dunkerque, during a special ceremony which took place at the port. “I welcome the PERS certification of Port of Dunkerque which has become the ninth port certified with PERS from France. The Port of Dunkerque is clearly a port that puts environmental sustainability on the forefront. We hope that the PERS certification gives the people in the port working on a daily basis on environmental performance the well-deserved   pat on the back.

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) congratulates Port of Rotterdam (Netherlands), Port of Le Havre (France) and Port of Piraeus (Greece) for renewing EcoPorts’ environmental management standard (PERS). Isabelle Ryckbost, ESPO’s Secretary General, Eamonn O’Reilly, ESPO’s Chairman, and Sotiris Raptis, EcoPorts coordinator, handed over the PERS certificates to the ports’ representatives during the annual ESPO Conference in Rotterdam. “I would like to congratulate the three ports for obtaining once more the environmental standard of EcoPorts (PERS). PERS certification is rewarding years of day-to-day engagement towards improving environmental management.

The European Commission (EC) proposal for the Multi Annual Financial Framework 2021-2027 adopted on Wednesday 2 May reserves a similar budget for the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the financial instrument for Transport, in the current financial period. The proposal foresees 12,8 billion EUR under the general envelope, 11,3 billion EUR for transport projects in Cohesion countries and a new envelope of 6,5 billion EUR for investments in transport infrastructure for dual civilian-military use. For European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO), the allocation within the MFF proposal clearly shows the support of CEF as a financial instrument and proves that the Commission…