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A seminar was held at last week's Transport Week 2017 conference in Gdansk, Poland, to discuss and sum up issues relating to the EU-backed Green InfraPort initiative, including onshore power supply and small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure development.

The seminar was opened by the Baltic Ports Organization's (BPO) Secretary General, Bogdan Oldakowski, who introduced the main environmental developments and challenges addressed by the Green InfraPort project.

Marcin Wlodarski from the MOTUS Foundation, one of the Green InfraPort project's partners, then gave an overview of the best practices in energy management at ports and container terminals. He noted that there is still a significant number of ports without energy policies and that only 20 percent of port energy policies target the port as a whole.

Speaking during his presentation 'Onshore power supply from an operator's perspective', Poul Woodall, Director for Environment and Sustainability at DFDS, listed the main reasons that make onshore power an attractive choice as being noise reduction and the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particle emissions.

Woodall also stressed that onshore power is not a one-size-fits-all solution and that in some circumstances a more specific approach would be required.

In his presentation entitled 'Small-scale LNG infrastructure for vessels bunkering in the Baltic Sea Region', Andrius Sutnikas from the Klaipeda Science and Technology Park said that the promotion of the use of LNG as an alternative fuel for ships was a key focus of the Green InfraPort project. The joint venture between Bomin Linde LNG and Klaipedos Nafta to operate an LNG bunkering vessel, supply a truck-loading station in Klaipeda and satellite LNG terminals in the Baltic Sea, was used as an example. The delivery to end users via intermodal LNG tanks by trucks, trains and marine barges was also mentioned.

Last year, Bunker Index reported that the Green InfraPort project had been approved by the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) Seed Money Facility to receive an EU grant for the implementation of a number of sustainable solutions in the Baltic Sea region.

Non-profit association the Baltic Ports Organization (BPO) has been the lead partner, while the Motus Foundation and SSPA Sweden AB have acted as project partners.

The Green InfraPort project began in April 2016, with completion in March 2017.

The last EUSBSR Seed Money Facility project approval was closed on February 18, 2016, resulting in 28 new seed money projects. In total, the Seed Money Facility has funded 97 projects.