CLEAN BERTH final conference: Green and smart ports in the Adriatic Ionian Region. The contribution of the European territorial cooperation between Italy, Croatia and Slovenia

Enhancing decarbonisation and digitalisation of EUSAIR ports through cooperation among logistic nodes and territories

Maritime transport is the most sustainable way of transporting goods from the environmental and energy point of view. Also, the commercial ports, located near cities, play an essential role in the transport logistics system, as they allow the connection between the maritime and land routes, and represent an important factor for the growth of the economy and jobs.

However, port operations also have an impact on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions.

At the same time, the fragmentation along the supply chain hinders the full economic potential of the involved territories.

Digitalisation facilitates cooperation between supply chain actors, enables better visibility and real-time management of cargo flows, leads to the reduction of administrative burden, and allows for a better use of infrastructures and resources. All of this makes transport and logistics operations more efficient, not least by allowing easier integration of the different transport modes. By that, digitalisation contributes to decouple economic growth from transport growth by optimising transport flows and smart logistics solutions will help meeting environmental sustainability targets.

Efficient coordination and a common strategy are needed, all the more necessary given that pollution and greenhouse gas emissions do not stop at national borders.

Ports of Croatia, Slovenia and Italy have been cooperating on improving both their decarbonisation and digitalisation capabilities over the last few years, through EU-funded projects: CLEAN BERTH - “Cross-border institutional cooperation for ports environmental sustainability and energy efficiency” (Interreg Italy-Slovenia), SUSPORT – “SUStainable PORTs”, PROMARES - “Promoting maritime and multimodal freight transport in the Adriatic Sea” and DIGSEA - “DIGitalisation of multimodal transport in the Adriatic SEA” (Interreg Italy-Croatia).

The seminar proposed by the Port Network Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea and the FVG Region is included in the activities foreseen by the EUSAIR Facility Point for the 2022 Work Plan of Pillar 2, section Transport. While reaping the results achieved through these projects, it aims at creating an institutional platform for long-term cooperation on decarbonisation and digitalisation of port activities between the two shores of the Adriatic Sea within the EUSAIR area.

The event will take place in Trieste on June 8th 2022 – 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. – and it will be phygital.

Please register at the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1d9uOw37WyVLCUR2GPRNzY0oRjGWW-7fgsTMWM0JIBCg/edit