T&E with their heads down against European ports, accused of doing very little to clean up shipping

At the level of a single port, it would be Rotterdam, which is on the other hand, the European port of call that moves the largest volume of freight traffic, in first place in the ranking of ports in which the largest volume of emissions is generated of CO2 which would be equal to 13.7 million tonnes per year, followed by the ports of Antwerp (7.4 million tonnes of CO2/year) and Hamburg (4.7 million tonnes of CO2/year).

The port of Rotterdam - with 640 thousand tons of anhydride carbon per year - it would also be at the top of the ranking of European ports in terms of emissions from ships at berth on the quay, followed by the ports of Antwerp and Piraeus.

Despite not having individual ports in the top ten, Italy would instead be first in the ranking of nations whose ports record the largest amount of CO2 emissions from ships parked in ports. Following the ports from Spain with 1,039 tons of CO2/year and those from the Netherlands with 1,001 tons of CO2/year. The specific study that the largest amount of emissions in Italian ports would be produced by tankers (as would be the case in ports of Holland, United Kingdom, France and Greece). Container ships would instead be the largest producers of CO2 in the ports of Spain, Belgium and Germany, while in the ports of Norway and Sweden the greater share of carbon dioxide would be emitted respectively passenger ships and ro-pax ships.

According to Jacob Armstrong, T&E's head of the sustainable maritime transport, ports would do little for contribute to the reduction of shipping emissions: "now as now - he denounced - the maritime transport sector is combining disasters. Ports are at the heart of it all and the their impact on the climate is enormous. And yet, instead of supporting proposals to clean up maritime transport, for example with the complete electrification of ports and the obligation to use green fuels - accused Armstrong - the ports are not absolutely doing enough to clean up the sector».

According to Transport & Environment, industry lobbyists port would have opposed to introduce into the legislation Stricter targets for the electrification of harbours. "Ports," Armstrong argued, "can have a direct impact in making our planet greener providing infrastructure for clean shipping. That means installing infrastructure for hydrogen refuelling and electrify docks, allowing ships to shut down their motors and connect to the electrical network of the port. That it would also greatly improve the lives of those living in near what are currently some of the most polluted of the earth".

Transport & Environment has concluded its j'accuse against the urge them to support the proposed law on FuelsEurope green infrastructure (Alternative Fuels Infrastructure) Regulation) currently under discussion in Parliament and the Council of the EU.