Strengthening ports for a sustainable future

ALICE has officially submitted its contribution to the European Commission’s Call for Evidence on the upcoming EU Ports Strategy. This response marks a milestone for ALICE’s Ports & Hubs activity field and sets the foundation for deeper collaboration to ensure that ports and hubs are recognised and supported as critical logistics nodes in the transition to sustainable, digital and resilient supply chains. 

The contribution, developed with inputs from ALICE members and aligned with insights gathered through BOOSTLOG activities, particularly the Logistics Nodes Cloud Reports and Poster, outlines concrete recommendations to support innovation at all port levels. Key proposals include regulatory sandboxes, dedicated funding for scalable and mature innovative solutions, recognition of ports as energy and data hubs, procurement reforms and structured R&I collaboration mechanisms. 

The submission reflects the mandate given by ALICE members to advocate for EU R&I support for ports and hubs as critical enablers for decarbonized and efficient logistics and supply chains and competitiveness levers. The Danish EU Presidency Programme acknowledges ports as enablers of green and efficient freight transport and includes the EU Port Strategy as a priority for the presidency. ALICE welcomes this Presidency Priority.  

This submission marks an important milestone in the continued journey of ALICE support to ports and Hubs R&I and aims to accelerate a framework for innovation adoption acceleration supporting the twin transition, green and digital. It marks the beginning of an intensified effort through the ALICE Ports & Hubs Task Force. ALICE will continue to: 

• Advocate for dedicated EU research and innovation programmes dedicated to empowering port ecosystems to drive energy transition, deploy digital and automation solutions, and boost resilience. 
• Engage with EU institutions and stakeholders to follow up on the adoption and implementation of the EU Ports Strategy. 
• Facilitate knowledge-sharing and the dissemination of best practices, and support new and ongoing R&I projects. 

ALICE continues to support and liaise with R&I projects that promote innovation in ports and terminals. These include: 

• MULTIRELOAD, FOR-FREIGHT, PIONEERS, CLARION, and MAGPIE that explore multimodality, green port operations and sustainable logistics hubs. 
• Projects like MODI, AUTOMOTIF, and AUTOSUP focus on automation technologies, particularly in vehicle and terminal operations. 
• REMUNET and SARIL projects focus on enhancing resilience and sustainability of multimodal transport networks, including ports through synchromodality and Physical Internet. 

These projects demonstrate the practical application of innovations identified in BOOSTLOG’s Logistics Nodes report, which noted gaps such as the low involvement of logistics nodes in innovation initiatives, limited operational integration and fragmented governance. 

Join ALICE and help shape the future 

We invite all ports, inland hubs, and terminal operators to join ALICE and actively participate in the Ports & Hubs group. By joining, you will gain access to a broad network of over 800 logistics innovation experts and gives you the opportunity to influence EU research priorities and contribute to the development of innovative solutions for the energy, digital and automation transitions in ports and hubs. 

To become a member or join the task force, please visit our membership page or contact the ALICE secretariat directly.