In the port city of Le Havre (France), where our organisation is headquartered, a special “city-port” workshop was held last week, on 27 September, at the Carré des Docks exhibition and trade centre. The MAGPIE project is an EU scheme aimed at developing smart green port solutions for the future. The port authorities of Rotterdam, HAROPA Port, Sines, and Deltaport are all members of the European consortium.

The aim of the seminar, which was co-hosted by the AIVP and HAROPA Port, was to compare the different pilot projects with the reality of the Seine’s port ecosystem. AIVP’s General Manager Bruno Delsalle led the proceedings, giving both the introductory address and the closing remarks at the end of highly productive day of work that provided valuable learnings for all who attended.

In the morning, Stéphane Raison, Chairman of the Executive Board of HAROPA Port, spoke about decarbonisation efforts in Le Havre and along the Seine. He was followed by Florian Vaudois from the Le Havre Region Planning Agency (AURH), who explained the green industrial projects in the Seine valley from a regional perspective. After these keynote speeches, a plenary session took place in the form of a round table moderated by Cédric Virciglio (HAROPA Port), with several MAGPIE project representatives. They included Reyer Will (Port of Rotterdam), project manager, who presented the industrial demonstrator for shore power electric battery technology, along with Peter Lystrup Christensen (Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping) on the issue of alternative fuels, and Zenaida Mourao (INESC-TEC institute of technology), who spoke about how digital twins and smart tools are used in the MAGPIE project.

The afternoon saw the participants work together in small groups, focusing on a range of specific topics: 

  • Shore power and the cruise sector: the case of Le Havre, compared with the MAGPIE demonstrators (with Hervé Géraud of HAROPA Port, and Edvin Wiggelinkhuizen from TNO), moderated by Théo Fortin (AIVP);
  • Monitoring environmental impacts in Antwerp and Rotterdam (with Martijn Streng, Université Erasmus Rotterdam, and Wouter Schmidt, University of Antwerp), moderated by Caya Hein (AIVP);
  • Digital tools in the Le Havre Smart Port City programme and the European MAGPIE project (with Cyril Chédot, HAROPA Port, and Xavier Brière, Le Havre Seine Métropole Urban Community), moderated by Zenaida Mourao (INESC-TEC);
  • How “serious games” can help shape port strategy (with Rosanne Van Houwelingen, Université Erasmus Rotterdam), moderated by José Sanchez (AIVP).

The seminar was attended by nearly seventy MAGPIE members and representatives from the industrial port community of Le Havre and the department of Seine-Maritime. The next event will take place in September 2024 in Wesel (Germany), which is home to another MAGPIE partner port authority: Deltaport.

AIVP continues to play an active role in the MAGPIE project and its sister initiative PIONEERS, led by the port authority of Antwerp. Both initiatives will help to improve the environmental footprint of ports, one of the priorities identified by AIVP’s 2030 Agenda.