The Power4Ports project is about green ports in the Baltic Sea region. The project will focus on the prerequisites for electrification of ports in the region.
Water transport accounts for a substantial part of the overall transport CO2 emissions in Europe. Due to CO2 targets imposed on vehicles, the relative contribution from water transport is predicted to increase even more, according to Power4Ports. It is therefore necessary to reduce the emissions in the maritime sector. In view of this, electrification would allow the ports to do so. As many as two thirds of the Baltic Sea ports are classified as small or medium sized. Power4Ports notes that these ports are important regional capacities for transnational logistic gateways and for the blue economy. Power4Ports states that it is not yet clear how the small and medium sized ports in the Baltic Sea region will do the transition from fuel-based to electrified processes. It suggests there is a lack of business models that cover both financial and sustainability perspectives. Also, there is no strategy on how to deal with the increasing demand for electricity.
Against this background, the Power4Ports project wants to conduct a pre-study on the prerequisites for electrification of small and medium sized ports in the region. It stresses the importance of a transnational perspective, as many of the member states share the same challenges with port electrification. The activities include dialogues with local ports, workshops with partners and production of a pre-study.