European Sea Ports Organization News

Interferry CEO Mike Corrigan explains the driving forces behind the global trade association’s imperative to keep its foot on the gas.Interferry and its members scaled some demanding peaks in 2022 but, to state the obvious, our work is never done. Facing an equally busy schedule of challenges and opportunities in the year ahead, we need to keep climbing – a truism that has been memorably expressed as ‘the top of one mountain is always the bottom of another’.Our 46th annual conference in Seattle last October was definitely one of the peaks…

Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) and the inland navigation sector with the support of the Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine (CCNR) have collaborated with other European organizations to produce the second edition of the International Safety Guide for Inland Navigation Tank-barges and Terminals (ISGINTT).The purpose of ISGINTT is to improve the safe transport of dangerous goods at the interface between inland tank barges and other vessels or shore facilities (terminals).

Cutting-edge solutions to an unprecedented increase in human and technological challenges will be unveiled when global trade association Interferry stages its 46th annual conference in Seattle this October on the theme of ‘Power and People’.As Interferry CEO Mike Corrigan explains, "In a fast-changing operational and environmental climate, the ferry industry’s long-term success depends more than ever on two main factors. We need to attract dedicated people who are interested in pursuing a rewarding maritime career and help them achieve the qualifications required by our industry.

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.

Port of Dover, the cross-channel port in Kent, south-east England, was awarded the European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) Award 2019 in recognition of its successful strategy to reach out to the local community and to directly communicate with the port citizens.Using social media as a new way of communicating and demonstrating a high level of transparency about operational achievements, future strategies and environmental challenges and performance is becoming increasingly important for European ports who can only function and further develop if they receive the license to operate from the local citizens.Chairman of the Jury, Dimitrios Theologitis…

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.

Two years after its official launch, the European Port Community Systems Association (ECPSA) will host a conference focusing on the simplification of port processes and trade facilitation. What are the key strands of European Union policy relating to port processes? How are they viewed from the differing perspectives of the European Commission and the shipping and ports community? And what is needed next to drive forward trade facilitation within and beyond Europe? These thorny topics will be tackled in presentations by a series of speakers and in panel discussions at the conference…