After LP2 sign the 2 contracts (1st contract for Action 4.1-Μeasurements of sea water,gas pollutants and noise, Action4.4-Environmental Management System,Action 4.4-Environmental Management System Certification,Action 1.2-Project Management,2nd tender for Action2.2-Conference,Action 2.1-Leaflets, Action 2.4-Staff Training, Action 5.1-Collection & Coding of Albanian Legislation, Action 5.1Translation of key environmental legislation in Albanian,Action 3.1-Study-Assessment of Environmental Aspects & Impacts, Action 4.3-Emergency Plan), LP2 will proceed on installing the Water Flow Meters (Del4.1.5),replacing Heating Systems (4.2.4) & purchase the portable fire engine (4.3.4). After P3 sign the contract for the following Actions 2.3.1, 2.4.1, 3.1.1, 4.1.5, 4.4.1, 4.4.2, 5.1.1, 5.1.5, then P3 will proceed on installing the Water Flow Meters (Del4.1.5).
LP1, upon receiving deliverables of the other partners will proceed on compiling  the Common Environmental Plan (3.2.1) and settle the Environmental Information Office in Corfu. 

• Programi i Qeverise 2009-2013
• Plani i Integruar i MMPAU (2009)
• Strategjia ndersektoriale e Mjedisit
• Strategjia dhe Plani i veprimit per biodiversitetin
• Strategjia per zhvillimin e pyjeve dhe kullotave
• Strategjia e peshkimit
• Strategjia dhe plani kombetar i veprimit per zbatimin e konventes se Aarhus-it

For each port, whether small or big, dredging campaigns are a necessary cost to be paid for enable commercial, fishing and marina’s activities. Beyond the economic cost, the environmental impacts can be of great importance for the surroundings of the port.

Small ports face two difficulties that bigger ports can address more easily, meaning optimizing the cost of dredging and limiting its effects on the port ‘surroundings environment.

Local ports in Europe are subject to different marine conditions depending on their geographical situation and to European and national legislations that impact the way they address the issue of dredging.

Through SuPorts, the small ports involved have exchanged their good practices and also met bigger ports through different events of different European projects and a core workshop in Piombino in October 2012.

The work carried out has led to focus on several sub-issues applied to sustainable dredging:

-      How to better manage dredged material

-      How to reduce the cost of dredging campaigns

-       Understanding and comparing national legislation

The best practices identified have shown many ways to deal with Sustainable dredging. These have shown for instance in the case of the Seine-Maritime County Council ports that national legislation could enable port authorities to organize together joint public procurement procedure to reduce the cost of dredging campaigns. Provided by the University of Thessaloniki, best practices have shown innovative ideas for land reclamation and rehabilitation of a polluted seabed in the port of Thessaloniki as well as the successful beneficial use of dredged material in the port of Piraeus, minimising in parallel the release of pollutants by using devices such as an environmental grab dredger and silt curtains.

Portos de Galicia has described its reflections undertaken to review its dredged material disposal sites organization to avoid both dispersed pollution and reduce bureaucratic burden when having too many disposal sites and authorizations to obtain.

The Port authority of Piombino through the writing of a publication, some other Italian ports’ good practices examples provided by ISPRA or by the Klaipeda State Seaport Authority have enabled the partnership to get a thorough overview of the methodologies, techniques and ideas that ports can have in order to face the issue of sustainable dredging.

Finally, the Seine-Maritime County Council has produced a study financed through the SuPorts project to understand the conditions of sedimentation in its port and identify solutions to limit it. A methodological guide describing the study’s methodology has been shared with the SuPorts partners.

A dedicated handbook included in the SuPorts final Scrapbook compiles all these practices and results and will be available to all ports interested in the topic.

ENHANCING JOINT ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONS AT THE PORTS OF THE CROSS BORDER AREA OF CORFU-IGOUMENITSA-SARANDE

Corfu is one of the prime tourist destinations of Greece mainly due to its beautiful green countryside and spectacular beaches.

The new port of Igoumenitsa is one of the most important ports of the European Union as a category A port, which includes all ports of international importance.

Given its coastal access and Mediterranean climate, Sarandë has become an important tourist attraction since the fall of communism in Albania.

LP1 is the main port of Kerkira's Island and it is among the ports of international importance,with special emphasis on strengthening  the development of tourism and commerce in the island of Corfu. LP1 in addition to its passenger and commercial operation, has a very important tourist operation. Also serves the ship lines between–Corfu-Italy and Corfu–Saranda. The dynamic development of the Port of Corfu is closely related to the future development tendencies of the wider area.The Port of Corfu SA is the operator of all port activities and was established in 27/6/2001. It has a total of 10 staff.The organizational structure consists of:Board-President, Managing Director , Manager,Managing Board.The Areas of responsibility consists of the following Departments:Services and Development,Technical Services, Administrative and Financial Servicesand the Offices of Legal Advisor and Internal Auditor.

The Port of Saranda (LP2) is the main port of South East Albania  and operates  as passenger and commercial port.There is a 60 square meters  ships dock for ships and  hydrofoils  coming from Corfu. The  depth of the sea at this point is  3.5 m.  The cruise ships now “anchoring” at the open  sea.During the summer except  the regular line and there are additional daily cruises from Corfu to Saranda  carrying out tourists (up to 500 daily).  The port Terminal at Saranda is a total of 130 square meters, divided into 2 levels. At the lower level, there is the customs-passport control, while at the upper level  is the lobby and the entrance to the terminal.There is no elevator for the handicapped  and elderly passengers.The total staff consists of 47 persons, of which 15 are Office staff, 12 are Security staff and   20 are workers.The EXPANSION PLANS related on the creation of a new 120m expansion of the ship dock and the depth will become 9m.

The new Port of Igoumenitsa was inaugurated on September 19th 2003. It’s located in the southern side of the ground marine belt, outside the city’s urban area, near the village Ladochori. It occupies a total area of 21 hectares from which 13 hectares are harbor area, while 8 hectares have been given for road construction, parking spaces for private cars and trucks, refuelling stations etc. The new Port provides 5 mooring spaces for Ro-Ro ships, of international ferry routes, twelve piers with the ability of simultaneous mooring up to 7 ships with adequate ground space.

As concerns partners experience, it worths mentioning that LP1 and P3 have taken part in several EU programs either on the IPA Adriatic GR-IT, FP7, MED and TEN (Trans European Network).These are α) APC – THE ADRIATIC PORT COMMUNITY,b) FAROS – FOR ADVANCEMENT RESOURCING AND ORGANIZATION OF SEAFARERS,γ) GAIA – GENERALIZED AUTOMATIC EXCHANGE OF PORT INFORMATION AREA d)NETLAM – NETWORK OF THE LOWER ADRIATIC MARINAS e)PELAGOS f)SECINS showing capacity in managing such projects.LP2 has no experience in EU funded programs and is for the first time taking part in EU funded projects.

The project idea originates from the fact that the 3 partners (Corfu Port,Igoumenitsa Port,Port of Saranda) are located within a virtual triangle that renders the whole area an international cruise center and a commercial hub in the Mediterranean. The role,therefore, the 3 ports are called to play to leverage the development of international trade, and the sustainability of the local and national economies in Greece and Albania, is a prominent one.However, this region now faces serious environmental risks arising, mainly, from port activities. Air and water pollution caused by ships seem to be a constantly increasing threat to the area’s waterways, air and coasts. That is been accelerating as trade and tourism have become increasingly globalized. Port activities pollute the above mentioned natural resources in many ways.

The primary objective of the project is 1) to enable joint approaches to common problems that the ports deal with, 2)the adoption of common environmental practices among the 3 ports through developing, implementing and financing joint environmental actions.Moreover, the project aims at 3) strengthening and promoting cross border collaboration, transfer of knowledge and exchange of experience firstly among the partners through the development and implementation of joint environmental actions resulting to sustainable development of the area and lastly among people of the area and beyond, stakeholders and tourists.

The project aims at ensuring the protection and restoration of European marine ecosystems in border areas of Greece and Albania, preparing common sense of environmental perception by establishing and implementing joint procedures, practices, policies and actions with respect to National, European and International Laws and ensuring ecological sustainability of economic activities associated with the marine environment.

The main project's geographical scope is to make the above mentioned triangle area,the cities of Corfu,Igoumenitsa and Saranda having joint environmental practices to prevent from the occurence of unwilling situations,pollutions,irrational natural resources wastes etc.In parallel,the ports to adopt environmental policies will help stakeholders, young people from the area and locals firstly to be informed and consequently sensitized, looking after the sea,ports,marines and coasts and beyond.

It is evident that each port needs to tackle different problems, issues and challenges or opportunities for development due to differences in size, location in the border region of Greece and Albania. Environmental impacts from port activities are also in strict relation with location, size, infrastructure needs and management loads. During the project preparation phase, extensive discussions among the partners, revealed the variety of environmental issues and problems, and also the significant impact each port has on the local community and the wider region.

More specifically, the environmental problems/threats that very often arise as a result of maritime activities at the ports of Corfu, Igoumenitsa & Saranda are: noise generated by the operation of machinery and vehicles; dust produced primarily in the areas of handling bulk; gaseous pollutants (from vehicles, machinery, ships);degradation of water quality and marine ecosystems around the port due to reduced renewal of water between the piers; pollution from loading and unloading of bulk cargo; leaching of the platforms with the rain;leakages of oil spills from ships; pollution of soil and underlying groundwater caused by the infiltration of hazardous substances; management of hazardous cargos; hygiene and safety of staff and visitors; overconsumption of energy and natural resources (eg water, oil and others), etc. On the other hand, the increase in tourism and commercial or maritime activity in all ports of the area presents new opportunities and challenges as regards economic development, promotion of local communities and populations. One such example is the rapid increase in cruises planned to double the number of ships and passenger arrivals in the related ports in the next few years. However, the increase in tourism  as well as maritime and commercial activity in each port creates not onlyopportunities but also obligations for the ports. It’s worth mentioning that cruise passengers arriving at Corfu amount to 600.000 per year,visitors from/to Corfu arriving at/from Igoumenitsa amount to 800.000 per year, and visitors to/from Corfu arriving at/from Sarande amount to 50.000 per year.

The number of passengers departing from or arriving at any of the three ports (Corfu,Igoumenitsa,Saranda) to/from other destinations is equally large.This growth, has led to the design and implementation of large-scale projects (completed or still in progress) aimed to improve the infrastructure:extension of the wharf and dredging the bottom at the port of Saranda,and of the renovation of infrastructure facilities and construction of a new port at Igoumenitsa,etc.The cooperation of the three ports highlights the important and unique opportunity to transfer knowledge, experiences and practices in environmental management and thereby improve the living quality in the cross-border area.