Environmental management in the Genoa harbour and ECOPORTS

Environmental management in the Genoa harbour
and ECOPORTS tools
La gestion environnementale du port de Gênes et le
réseau ECOPORTS
Giuseppe Di Luca and Giuseppe Canepa
Genoa Port Authority, Genoa, Italy; ECOPORTS Organisation
Keywords: environmental management, harbours, regulation
Mots-clés : gestion environnementale, ports, règlementation
Abstract
When a port and the surrounding urban area sit side by side, as is the case for
Genoa and many other Mediterranean large costal cities, one can speak about
“metropolitan port areas”. In such areas, any environmental impact stemming from
the industrial and commercial activities carried out in the port is amplified. Good
environmental management is therefore essential for stakeholders, such as citizens
and businesses, to continue their support for port operations. The Port Authority of
Genoa has dedicated departments to tackle environmental issues and, since long,
applies effectively an environmental management system, which is ISO 14001
certified since 2005. In 1993, the Port Authority of Genoa joined ECOPORTS, a
well functioning network of actors from the port sector, involved in the
implementation of environmental laws and regulations in daily practice.
ECOPORTS has developed, and develops a series of dedicated tools to assist ports,
businesses in the port sector and the logistic chain, as well as governmental bodies
with tasks in their daily environmental management.
Résumé
Lorsqu’un port et la zone urbaine voisine sont intimement mitoyens, comme c’est le
cas pour la ville de Gènes et beaucoup d’autres grandes villes côtières
méditerranéennes, on peut parler de «zones portuaires urbaines». Dans de telles
zones, tout impact environnemental causé par les activités industrielles et
commerciales réalisées dans le port est amplifié. Une bonne gestion
environnementale est dès lors essentielle pour que les différentes parties
impliquées (e.g., les citoyens et les commerces) continuent à encourager les
activités portuaires. L’Autorité Portuaire de Gènes possède des départements
dédiés à la prise en compte des aspects environnementaux. Depuis longtemps, elle
applique effectivement un système de gestion environnementale, système qui est
certifié ISO 14001 depuis 2005. En 1993, l’Autorité Portuaire de Gènes a rejoint
ECOPORTS, un réseau fonctionnel d’acteurs du secteur portuaire impliqués dans
l’application de lois et régulations environnementales dans les pratiques
quotidiennes. ECOPORTS a développé, et développe encore, une série
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d’instruments spécifiques pour assister les ports, les commerces du secteur
portuaire et de la chaîne logistique, ainsi que les structures gouvernementales dans
leurs taches de gestion environnementale quotidiennes.
PROFILE OF THE GENOA PORT
The Port of Genoa is located in Liguria, a region in north-west Italy; the port
therefore enjoys a strategic position, laying between the Mediterranean Sea and
central Europe. Genoa serves principally the northern Italian and southern central
European industrial and consumer centres. The port and urban areas sit side by
side, and the competition for/ compression of space is a key factor in the
development of Genoa city-port dynamic interactions. The morphology of the
Liguria territory is such that the city and the port have developed side by side,
stealing space from each other; this close proximity has generated, in turn,
considerable cohabitation problems. It is for these reasons that the city and the port
have always developed port functions and large infrastructure projects by filling in
the sea, a process which commenced in the early 1900s.
The Genoa Port Authority is responsible for supporting the development of
industrial and commercial activities in a large area close to the city. Its aim is to
increase cargo and passenger traffic by upgrading infrastructure and by stimulating
cooperation with terminal operators, local authorities and other stakeholders. Every
day the Port Authority deals with logistic problems, environmental impacts and the
daily management of the port land.
Further to the recent Italian law of port reform in 1994, ad hoc management
departments were established to tackle these problems, in order to i) prevent a
negative environmental impact, ii) create a better environment for all the citizens
living in the surroundings of the port, and iii) facilitate good relations and
cooperation with the city and the local community.
The main services offered by the terminal operators and other private companies in
the Port of Genoa are as follows:
•
areas dedicated to cargo traffic;
•
industrial areas employed by shipyards;
•
areas dedicated to passenger traffic - ferries and cruises - in the historic port
area;
•
an area for petroleum products;
•
areas for urban uses located mainly in the border zone between the port and
the city.
The Port of Genoa handles a full range of commodities. From containers to
perishable goods, from passengers to trucks, within an excellent network of short
sea shipping, there are multipurpose terminals, forest terminals, mineral and
vegetable oils, solid bulk terminal. (further details may be found at
www.porto.genova.it).
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ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT IN THE GENOA PORT AND THE
ECOPORT TOOLS
The environment represents a key factor in the management of ports and of the
logistic chain. Good environmental management is essential for stakeholders to
continue supporting the port in general and logistic chain operations in particular.
A large and fast increasing number of environmental laws and regulations intend to
preserve and improve environmental quality by applying the sustainability
approach sensu lato. Port authorities and port company operators, as well as
operators in the logistic chain, must all find ways to implement these laws and
regulations. Many different solutions are found for the same issues, with different
costs and different environmental effects. However, at times these solutions fail to
give the expected results, especially due to differences in the managerial priorities
set by ports and those opted for by the organizations/companies operating in the
logistic chain.
For this reason, in 1993, the Port Authority of Genoa joined Ecoports, a well
functioning network of actors from the port sector, involved in the implementation
of environmental laws and regulations in daily practice. Ecoports assists ports,
businesses in the port sector and the logistic chain, as well as governmental bodies,
with tasks involved in daily environmental management. This is done by
exchanging best practices and sharing solutions to common problems. This kind of
experience is often not available commercially, but is only exchanged within a
network of colleagues that are facing the same challenges in their daily work.
Sharing solutions avoids inventing the wheel twice and provides important
information on why certain solutions are useful in certain types of ports and
businesses while others are not.
The Ecoports Foundation was set up in 1999 by nine European Seaport Authorities,
as a formal structure for the exchange of experience in the areas of environment
and sustainability. All founding partners are members of the European Seaports
Organization, ESPO.
Ecoports has two main areas of activity. The fist one is related to the Ecoports
Projects, the development of knowledge and tools for environmental and
sustainable management. This is mostly done by means of cooperation projects,
often funded by the European Commission. The second area, the so-called
“Ecoports Tools”, comprises the use of knowledge and tools in the daily port
practice. This is done through i) the exchange of solutions, ii) the delivery of
trainings on the use of the tools and iii) the certification of environmental
management systems. The latter is carried out with the assistance of Lloyds
Register in its capacity of independent auditor.
The General Secretariat and the secretariat of Ecoports Tools is located in Brussels
and outsourced to the ESPO secretariat. The contact person is Mr Antonis Michail
([email protected],[email protected]). The environmental
tools offered by Ecoports can be summarized as follows:
1. Environmental Self Diagnosis Method (SDM), an environmental risk analysis
and analysis to state environmental priorities. The analysis is based on ISO
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14001 elements. The analysis is available in English, Spanish, and Italian.
Once a selected port has provided the relevant information requested, the
analysis then delivers:
a. A benchmark of the result of a selected port or company against the
average of European ports;
b. A Strength-Weakness-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis of the
result;
c. A strategic advice.
2. Port Environmental Review System (PERS), an analysis –also- based on ISO
14001 elements. PERS delivers several elements, such as: a standard
description of the actual set up of an environmental management organization,
an overview of the environmental aspects of the activities of a specific, a
standard basis for an ad hoc environmental year report. PERS is available in
English, Spanish and Italian.
3. PERS certificate. Ecoports offers the possibility to release a certificate of
validation of a specific PERS analysis. The audit is done by the independent
auditor, Lloyds Register. PERS is a basic certificate developed by ports for
ports and port related companies. The work to be done by a specific port to
become PERS certified is partly the same as has the work necessary to become
ISO 14001-certified. Ports and companies who wish to go beyond the basic
PERS certificate and aim for ISO certification can therefore take advantage of
the work done previously for PERS.
4. Training workshops. Partly in English and partly in the national language. For
SDM, PERS, and PERS certification.
5. Workshops on actual environmental topics (such as dredging). These
workshops allow learning about environmental solutions from expert
colleagues from another ports or port companies, and to acquire practical
experience related to these solutions.
6. Yearly International Conference: Greenport, in Association with Ecoports. The
conference is largely organized as a series of parallel workshops that cover the
top 10 environmental port issues. This set up is intended to exchange practical
experience on the implementation of environmental laws and on other
environmental solutions in general. Experience has shown that the conference
often leads to new project initiatives and reinforces the port-to-port assistance
in the implementation of solutions.
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