The art of green patchwork: European ports collaborate to innovate

The project has a total value of 9.5m euro and has been awarded a grant of 4.5m euro under the European Regional Development Fund.

The overall objectives of the project can be summarised as upgrading port management skills, improving port operations and fostering the diversification of activities in ports; focussing in particular on the high growth sector opportunities of renewable energy creation and innovative sustainable technologies. The goal is to help to make the port industry more resilient and adaptable to market change and more responsive to entrepreneurship and innovation.

PATCH is a project of maritime cross-border cooperation largely between particular ports situated in the English Channel area and the Southern North Sea. The nine members of the partnership are in four countries and are:

• The Port of Oostende (Belgium)- Lead Partner of the project

• Zeeland Seaports (The Netherlands)

• The Port of Zeebrugge (Belgium)

• The Port of Calais (France)

• The Port of Portsmouth (UK)

• The Port of Newhaven (UK)

• The Port of Ramsgate (UK)

• East Sussex County Council (UK)

• The South East England Development Agency (UK)

The project commenced in early 2009 and was scheduled to finish at the end of 2011. With the change of government in the UK in early 2010 the South East England Development Agency was effectively abolished and the partnership was required to submit a major change request to the Interreg IVA grant funding body. Despite this considerable extra administrative distraction the partners have pressed ahead with a number of innovative projects.

The project activities undertaken at the various ports vary widely but all involve some form of innovative sustainable development of port facilities or the preparations for such. The value of the proposals was recognised at an early stage when all the different activities were approved for grant funding at rates exceeding 40% and more generally up to and including the maximum of 50%.

Although there is of course a focus on project delivery, communication activities feature strongly in the overall objectives. These include workshops, business to business events, exhibitions and conferences, thus disseminating the findings of the project but also allowing timely influence by the wider stakeholders. The project was also featured at the European Green Week in Brussels in May 2011 under the heading “energy efficiency at ports”.

There is not room in this article to describe all the activities undertaken within PATCH, however two examples are briefly described below.

Portsmouth International Port is the second busiest roll-on roll-off port in the UK and has a growing number of calls by cruise ships. The existing passenger terminal was constructed in 1976 and was reaching the end of its economic life; it had become clear to the management of the port that the entire terminal required replacement. Detailed plans were drawn up and approved by the owners of the port, Portsmouth City Council, in autumn 2008. The terminal was required to offer full service and retail facilities with a capacity to handle up to 2,400 passengers.

The new building covers approximately 2,700 square metres and has a modern glass and stone facade. A full height concourse houses check-in and arrival and departure areas, whilst a mezzanine area contains the bar and cafe facilities at the western end of the building. An observation balcony overlooks the port operational areas. From the outset one of the considerations was to make the new terminal as efficient and environmentally friendly as reasonably possible.

In particular the means of heating and cooling the building were put under scrutiny to minimise the energy demand and future running costs. As a result the terminal is the first public building in the UK to use a sea water source heat pump allowing thermal energy from the sea to heat the building in winter and cool it in summer. In addition wind-catchers have been installed on the roof and these are equipped with automated louvres allowing precise control of the ventilation requirements. The owners are sufficiently confident of the new system that there is no back-up for the summer cooling, though there is provision for additional heating from gas boilers in very cold winter weather if this is required.

Further unusual features of the terminal include a seawater flushing system for the toilet facilities in the building. On completion of the structure it was assessed under the BREEAM methodology, a widely recognised measure of the environmental performance of a building, and received an interim award of “Very Good”. The contribution of the grant funding has not only helped to deliver the new technology but will also allow updates on the actual performance achieved to be disseminated to interested parties for the remainder of the duration of the PATCH project.

A second example of innovative thinking in ports is provided by the Multi Utility Provider project in the Ghent – Terneuzen Canal Zone in The Netherlands. Zeeland Seaports, the third seaport of the Netherlands, is formed by the seaports of Borsele, Vlissingen and Terneuzen. The port authority is responsible for the economic development, management, maintenance and operation of the port area. In an ongoing drive to be a “green” port there is a desire to develop sustainable industries situated on the extensive land areas within and adjacent to the port canal zone.

Within the PATCH project Zeeland Seaports have been seeking to install innovative networks designed to facilitate the sustainable use or re-use of residual or otherwise waste flows of materials from industrial processes. A pre-condition for utilising these flows and opening up a market for trading in these flows is an infrastructure, both physical and organisational, to link the various users together.

Zeeland Seaports is both the initiator and the project manager for the project. For the initial phase a sum of 1m euro, 50% funded by ERDF through PATCH, has been raised to deliver the pipelines which form the backbone of the system to link the various industrial premises together. In the first instance a network of pipelines is being installed for the transfer of CO2, gas, heat, biodiesel and hot water. A pipeline infrastructure can contribute significantly to improved energy efficiency and lower CO2 emissions and can be thought of as a supplementary sustainable mode of transport for materials flows.

A working demonstration of the principle of the project is now up and running. A substantial greenhouse has been constructed within the Canal Zone and waste hot water and CO2 are being brought by pipeline from adjacent industrial premises. Tomatoes and peppers are cultivated in the greenhouse and form a useful revenue earning business. In a further move to assist the sustainable future of the area, workers at the greenhouse have been recruited from long term unemployed members of the local community, and after training have proved to be a very reliable workforce.

As with the other demonstration projects within PATCH, the technical, environmental and commercial knowledge gained at Zeeland Seaports is being disseminated to other interested parties within and outside the partnership.

Contacts:

Howard Holt Seeports

www.seeports.eu

Wim Stubbe AG Port Oostende

PATCH Lead Partner

www.portofoostende.be/patch