The 400 Inland Ports in Europe are an essential part of European infrastructure. They are important for the connectivity, economy and regions of the EU, and play a crucial role in the European Green Deal’s ambition to reduce transport emissions by 90% by 2050.
The European Commission has launched the Green Inland Ports Study, carried out by Ecorys, CE Delft, Panteia, Erasmus University, EICB, ProDanube and Planco.
This study supports European inland ports in becoming zero-emission, sustainable hubs. It assesses the environmental impact of ports on their surroundings and explores how ports can become smarter through digitalisation. The study also examines opportunities to better integrate inland navigation into urban mobility and logistics chains. These elements form the basis for the development of a quality management system that monitors the environmental and sustainability performance of ports. This system has been tested at ten inland ports.
Environmental Impact Calculator for Inland Ports Within this project, CE Delft has identified and elaborated more than forty good practices that inland ports can use to reduce their environmental impact. In addition, the Port Environmental Impact Calculator has been developed, enabling an inland port to calculate the environmental impact of the entire port. This is the first freely accessible calculator developed for European inland ports, particularly the 250 ports located on the TEN-T corridors, and it provides insights into the actions port authorities can take to reduce environmental impact.