Thursday, May 6th, 2021
“Port of Antwerp aims to be the first world port that reconciles economy, people and climate. In order to be climate-neutral by 2050, we need to act now. PIONEERS proves how ambitious Port of Antwerp is in pioneering together with a wide stakeholder network to achieve our goal.” – Jacques Vandermeiren, CEO Port of Antwerp.
An international consortium of 46 partners including ALICE, led by the Port of Antwerp, will receive a €25 million grant from the European Horizon 2020 programme. The PIONEERS consortium representing leading ports, terminal- and transport operators, forwarders, knowledge institutes, technology developers, innovators and public entities will showcase concrete solutions reducing GHG emissions in ports while safeguarding their competitiveness. The project has a timeframe of 5 years starting at the end of 2021.
PIONEERS is a highly ambitious project, rethinking all aspects of port operations ranging from terminal operations, concession agreements, mobility, connectivity, fuels to models for cooperation and production, storage and use of energy. The PIONEERS consortium convinced evaluators with a variety of 19 ambitious demonstrators in the field of clean energy production and supply, sustainable port design, modal shift and flows optimization, and digital transformation.
The actions include renewable energy generation and deployment of electric, hydrogen and methanol vehicles; building and heating networks retrofit for energy efficiency; implementation of circular economy approaches in infrastructure works; automation; and deployment of digital platforms to promote modal shift and ensure optimised vehicle, vessel and container movements.