A new Port Center in France has been inaugurated on the 30th of October. The new Port Center of Côte d’Azur was launched online, with a website including many tools to explain the port to the local population and stakeholders and engage them in the maritime world. The new platform will connect with the citizens in maritime projects, share valuable knowledge and provide different pedagogic tools for audiences of different ages. Port related professions are one of the main areas explored in the new Port Center, including short video interviews with officers, captains, fishermen or pilots among others. Here, the younger generation will be able to know what happens in the port with first-hand testimonies. Children in school ages, but also adults, can answer a fun quiz and test their knowledge about port and maritime culture. Indeed, culture and heritage are the connecting thread of this new initiative that builds on the rich maritime heritage that can be found in the region.
The new Port Center of Côte d’Azur is framed in the GritAccess project, part of the EU French-Italian Interreg program, that brings together 14 partners from 5 cross-boarder regions. The main goal of the project is to develop a great Tyrrhenian Itinerary to disclose and facilitate the access to the local maritime heritage. A first part of this itinerary can already be visited in Port Vauban, but also online, in the Port Center, including audio guide in three languages (French, English and Italian).
The leader organization of GritAccess and the new Port Center is the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Nice and Côte d’Azur, member of AIVP, that signed the Port Center Charter in 2019, along with the town of Antibes. In the signing ceremony of the Charter, the CCI Nice expressed its commitment to open the Port Center in 2021, but was able to accelerate the development and open it already in 2020. The AIVP provide feedback during the project development, building on its experience from previous projects. The new Port Center will certainly bring the port and maritime world closer to the citizens.
