On 20 February, ESPO awarded five new PERS certificates
during a seminar held in Piraeus. ESPO congratulates the Greek ports of
Corfu, Lagos, Kavala and Volos, and the Italian port of Piombino for
this significant achievement.The Port Environmental Review System (PERS) is the only port sector
specific environmental management standard. PERS is the flagship product of the EcoPorts network. It is offered as part of the ESPO services to
its members. PERS is independently audited and certified by Lloyd’s
Register.The five small and medium size ports joined EcoPorts and achieved
PERS certification as part of their participation to the EC co-funded
SuPorts project, focusing on the sustainable management of European
local ports. SuPorts is a European INTERREG IVC project which aims to
assist local ports in the implementation of environmental strategies and to facilitate their access to suitable environmental management tools,
enabling them to remain competitive by contributing to a more
sustainable EU. The PERS award ceremony and embracing event was kindly
hosted by the University of Piraeus and organised by the Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki, both partners and contributors to the
SuPorts project.ESPO Secretary General Patrick Verhoeven handed out the certificates
to the representatives of the five ports, highlighting that it is the
first time that ESPO has the pleasure to award such a number of
certificates in one go and congratulating the whole project consortium
for this achievement.The port of Piombino is the first ever Italian port that achieves
PERS certification. The four Greek ports join the already certified
ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki and raise the number of Greek ports
holding a valid PERS certificate to six. Greek ports are clearly the
champions of PERS, accounting for six out of the total of 16
certificates that were awarded in the course of the last two years. “I pay tribute to the Greek ports for their continuous commitment to environmental management and support to the EcoPorts tools”, said ESPO Secretary General Patrick Verhoeven. “PERS is progressing very well and ESPO is looking forward to congratulating
soon five more ports that are currently in the pipeline of being PERS
certified”, he added.The successful event in Piraeus was welcomed by the Greek Secretary
General of Ports and Port Policy, Konstantinos Moutzouris and attracted
various participants including local authorities, port professionals and academia. ESPO Policy Advisor Antonis Michail presented the overall
approach of ESPO on port environmental management, focusing on the
positive contribution of EcoPorts and the recently published ESPO Green
Guide. “The positive trends that European ports demonstrate in terms of environmental performance, are seen as triggering factors that
inspire the ports to continuously work towards achieving further
improvement”, said Antonis Michail.
IMO&EU NEWS
25 February 2013 - 22:40
ESPO Awards PERS Certificates to Greek and Italian Ports
On 20 February, ESPO awarded five new PERS certificates during a seminar held in Piraeus.
IMO&EU NEWS
25 February 2013 - 22:40
This news 8020 hits received.
These news may also interest you