Ports congratulated for renewing EcoPorts’ environmental management standard

Isabelle Ryckbost, ESPO’s Secretary General, and Sotiris Raptis, EcoPorts coordinator, handed over the PERS certificates to the ports’ representatives during the GreenPort Congress in Valencia.

“I would like to congratulate the four ports for renewing EcoPorts’ environmental standard. As we have seen in the ESPO Environmental Report 2018, the sector is doing better and it is important to communicate this progress to the local communities and the port users. PERS helps ports further improve their environmental performance and comply with the existing regulations. The four ports show very clearly how port growth and better environmental performance go hand in hand. We encourage all ports to join EcoPorts and obtain the PERS standard” says ESPO’s Secretary General, Isabelle Ryckbost.

Being PERS certified requires amongst others that the port increases transparency by making its environmental report publicly available. It also implies that the port is effectively monitoring the environmental challenges and is implementing an improved environmental management.

"PERS has been the flagship of the EcoPorts network being the only port specific environmental standard. It is encouraging that most of the ports retain the standard and an increasing number of them gets PERS certified. Currently, 73% of the European ports are certified under an environmental standard, increased by 19% since 2013; PERS has contributed significantly to that” says EcoPorts Coordinator, Sotiris Raptis.

One third of the 98 EcoPorts members have now acquired PERS. Compliance with the PERS standard is independently assessed by Lloyd’s Register and the certificate has a validity of two years. PERS is revised after the 2 year period to make sure that the port continues to meet the requirements.

The EcoPorts tools are available to ports and terminals outside Europe through the ECO Sustainable Logistic Chain Foundation (ECOSLC).

Read the article online at: https://www.drybulkmagazine.com/ports-terminals/25102018/ports-congratulated-for-renewing-ecoports-environmental-management-standard/