Marseille Fos has joined the World Ports Climate Initiative (WPCI) and is now set to reduce port dues for ships performing better than required under air pollution regulations.
From July 1 this year the incentive will apply to eligible ships among the 236 container carriers and cruise vessels – a 60/40% split – that call at the port. Other sectors will be added in 2018.
The WPCI features the Environmental Ship Index (ESI), which scores atmospheric pollution on a zero to 100 scale. Currently, only around 50 ports worldwide offer reduced call charges based on the ESI. Marseille Fos reductions will apply from a score of 35 - the level attributed to ships equipped for the so-called ‘cold ironing’ facility to take shoreside electrical power at berth instead of using onboard diesel generators.
The port was the first in France and the Mediterranean to announce such a facility following an agreement with Corsica and Sardinia ferry operator La Meridionale. The company’s three ships have been equipped since January. For each vessel, CO2 and particle emissions have been cut by the equivalent of more than 3,000 vehicles per day on the 64km route from Marseille to Aix, while NOx emissions are down by the equivalent of 65,000 vehicles per day.
In a further green initiative, Marseille Fos has launched a website link to reinforce its cooperation with AirPACA, the air quality monitoring association for the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur region. The port joined in 2004, making it the longest serving transport infrastructure member. Since 2015 it has been supplying annual maritime traffic statistics to support air quality analysis. The association has used this data to produce a highly reliable real-time ‘pollution map’ which has previously been unpublished within the port domain but which will now be available at www.marseille-port.fr.
Top award for Marseille Fos Smart Port project Logistics IT specialist Marseille Gyptis International (MGI) and the port of Marseilles Fos won gold for best Smart Port information systems to earn the highest IT category award at the 30th conference of the International Association of Ports and Harbors held in Indonesia in May.
Selected among 12 internationally recognised competitors, the award acknowledged two complementary and interoperable systems – Neptune Port for ship management and Ci5 for goods management. Neptune Port integrates all port shipping activities, providing 700 players across 15 sectors with real-time data on ship positions and administrative and logistics details. The system provides a seamless interface with external platforms such as the Vessel Traffic Management Information System and the Ci5 Cargo Community System. The solution also integrates the Port Single Window in full compliance with European Directive 2010/65 allowing EU ports to use paperless administrative procedures.
Ci5 – standing for Cargo intelligence across five transport modes and five continents – is a revolutionary successor to AP+ giving the port a major competitive edge based on five innovative principles: Business Intelligence, Activity Monitoring, Fast Lane, Interoperability and User Experience. It goes beyond existing port and cargo community systems by using new technologies associated with developments such as Big Data, IoT, smart containers, artificial intelligence and machine learning. As a result, brand new functionalities have been developed that will extend upstream/downstream goods traceability, improve operational and strategic management, speed cargo flows and enhance port performance.
MGI audits, projects and marketing director Dominque Lebreton notes: “Ci5 is the world’s first cargo community system to incorporate technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, allowing extremely precise forecasts of truck arrival times at port gates. It represents an essential advantage for a port’s competitiveness regarding the flows, visibility, reliability and security required for high performance.”
Marseille Fos port authority CEO Christine Cabau Woehrel added: “Neptune Port is at the heart of our information system. It connects the private systems of all port professionals to generate reliability of information, smooth transit through the port and better productivity, thus allowing us to fully fulfil our role as goods flow facilitators for the real benefit of our clients and users.
Source: Marseille Fos