An EU-funded green initiatives project aims to define the port of the future and its challenges.

The Italian consulting firm Circle will manage the ‘DocksTheFuture’ project selected by the EU’s Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) under Horizon 2020 within the ‘Smart, green and integrated transport’ challenge, which includes areas such as aviation, infrastructure, green vehicles and ‘Blue Growth.’

The €1.2 million project aims to define the Port of the Future and the challenges related to simplification and digitalization of processes, dredging, emission reduction, energy transition, electrification, smart grids, port-city interface and the use of renewable energy management.

2030 Targets
The project sets out to refine the Port of Future concepts, topics and their related targets in 2030, identify appropriate Key Performance Indicators (KPI), monitoring and evaluation and lead to the ‘Port of the Future Road Map for 2030.’

The road map will include tools for evaluation and transferability of Port of the Future solutions, research and development, and policy recommendations, training packages and the creation of a ‘Port of the Future Network of Excellence’.

Circle will lead a working group consisting of academic partners (Institut für Seeverkehrswirtschaft und Logistik - ISL in Bremen, Germany, and University of Genoa, Italy) and of consulting companies Magellan (Portugal) and Ports Expertise (Belgium).

The project is due to run for 30 months from January 2018.

Project full title: Developing the methodology for a coordinated approach to the clustering, monitoring and evaluation of results of actions under the Ports of the Future
EU contribution: €1,275,562.50
Total cost: €1,275,562.50
Duration: January 2018 – June 2020 (30 months)
Partners: Italy, Germany, Belgium and Portugal