ESPO congratulates the Port of Calais (France) and the Port of Moerdijk (The Netherlands) on their recent Port Environmental Review System (PERS) re-certification. Laurent Devulder, Director of Strategic Development, Port of Calais and Jacco Rentrop, Manager Environment and Security, Port of Moerdijk received their certificates by the Chairman of ESPO, Victor Schoenmakers during a dedicated session in the GreenPort Congress on 3 October in Marseille.

The certification verifies that the ports’ environmental management programmes are in line with the requirements set by the EcoPorts PERS, the only port sector specific environmental management standard. The ports achieved certification after the positive evaluation of their application by Lloyd’s Register. PERS is the EcoPorts flagship product, which allows port authorities to excel in environmental management. ESPO is committed to seeing the expansion of the scheme throughout the sector. There are currently 13 ports from 9 countries holding a valid PERS certificate.

The Port of Calais is consistently using the EcoPorts tools since 2008. The port is an example to follow when it comes to the use of the SDM checklist. The annual repetition of the exercise allows the port to yearly report on positive trends regarding its environmental performance within its annually published environmental report while it contributes to the up-to-date maintenance of the European benchmark of performance. The Port of Calais achieved PERS re-certification in September after its initial certification in 2010.


The Port of Moerdijk has been a long supporter of the EcoPorts tools and approach since back in 2004. Moerdijk is awarded a PERS certificate for the third time after already being certified in 2005 and 2008. ESPO is delighted to congratulate both ports for their continuous and systematic way of addressing their environmental aspects.