During the official dinner of the GreenPort Congress in Barcelona on 15 October, ESPO was delighted to congratulate the ports of Calais, Cork, Moerdijk and Shannon Foynes for achieving the Port Environmental Review System (PERS) certification.

ESPO Chairman Santiago Garcia Mila presented the PERS certificates to the port representatives, Mr Laurent Devulder (Calais), Mr Finbarr Kearney (Cork) and Mr Jacco Rentrop (Moerdijk) respectively. ESPO would like to pay particular tribute to the three ports for being amongst the most faithful supporters and ambassadors of the EcoPorts tools and approach. The ports of Cork and Moerdijk achieved PERS certification for the fourth consecutive time since their initial certifications in 2006. Calais received its certificate for the third time in a row since its initial commitment to PERS in 2010.

The port of Shannon Foynes on the other hand achieves PERS certification for the first time and ESPO is delighted to welcome the port to the distinguished network of PERS certificate holders.

PERS is the only port sector specific environmental management standard. It is the flagship product of the EcoPorts network and is offered as part of ESPO services to its members through the EcoPorts website (www.ecoports.com).

Compliance with the PERS standard is independently assessed by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance and the certificate has a validity of two years. There are currently 20 ports in Europe that hold a valid PERS certificate.

ESPO is delighted with the increased interest shown to PERS by European port authorities and encourages all ports within its membership to implement the scheme and receive a certification.