SESSION I

Session 1 Introduction: Cities and ports innovating for an interdependent future

Report by Bridget Hogan, moderator

The challenges facing ports in winning support from their surrounding communities were outlined by Henk de Bruijn Director, corporate strategy, Port of Rotterdam who said that social innovation was needed now.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the need had been for product innovation, then in the 1990s, the impetus was for what he called process innovation – or IT. Now in the 2000s, he called for more emphasis on the human elements of port workings.
In order to achieve this, the Port of Rotterdam is proposing to set up an international project, People around ports, to exchange experiences of how the public from port cities can be educated in the importance of the activities carried out there.
“Your ideas are very important to us,” he said, It is important for ports to work together to influence policy makers in delegate countries and in Brussels. The aim of the project was to improve the business climate, public support and the image of seaports.
Those interested can contact Mrs Natalie Backx on n.backx@portofrotterdam.com

Port authorities are decidedly different businesses from 10 years ago according to second speaker, Franc J. Pigna, MD, Aegir Port Property Advisers, Miami. The modern industry today is about evolution and not revolution. In many port authorities real estate is under performing. Need to invest in port facilities to deal with the growth in global trade. Once port facilities reach 80% capacity, they are operating in the realm of chaos and most are operating in that area. There is a tremendous need for port facilities, but there are land constraints. In developing counties facilities are working closer to 90% capacity.
Ports and cities will be the ones to do this development and it has to happen in the hinterland. Big ships call for big facilities, but the vast majority of vessels are not 14,000teu – so the many are paying for the few.
Control is shifting from ports and cities on a local level to a global level, especially with the consolidation of shipping lines. Ports in downtown areas do not have the land to expand, this goes deep into the hinterland.
Port authorities need funds for expansion, but are not earning enough from their real estate assets. The only people who can develop the intermodal platforms needed are the cities and the ports over the next 10 – 20 years.
Problems faced by the Baltic Sea area as a result of dynamic growth were outlined by Mikko Lohikoski, Director of Communications and External Affairs for the City of Turku, Finland, on behalf of the Union of the Baltic Cities (UBC).
He said traffic was set to increase by 40% by 2010, but potentially there were environmental problems as it is one of the most burdened brackish water bodies in the world with susceptibility to pollution and poisons due to its shallowness and shape.
The average depth of the Baltic Sea is just 55 metres (Mediterranean 1450 metres)
And it takes 30 years for the water to change. The cold climate and ice cover compound these problems.

The region has developed co-operation to cope with the challenges posed by parallel expansion of both cities and ports. A new EU Baltic Sea Strategy will be presented under the Swedish EU Presidency in 2009. The first stakeholder conference will be in Stockholm 30 September, the second in Rostock in January 2009 This question of how sustainable port cities can be was taken up by Christine Loh, CEO of the think tank Civic Exchange in Hong Kong. She started with her conclusion – that port cities are not sustainable in public health terms and said there is a price to pay. It is important that business people and innovators understand this.
In China the social innovation conversations heard at this conference not taking place and there is a need for political cooperation that involves all the stakeholders. This soft technology is not easy. People from different jurisdictions need to have these conversations.

SESSION III

Session III: Innovating in the Organisation of the City-Port Territory, report by José Campos, moderator.

Luis Ajamil, president of Bermello, Ajamil & Partners (Miami, Florida), spoke on the incredible growth of the cruise industry and the effect on ports worldwide. He presented statistics and charts describing this growth. As mega cruise ships are being developed, Ajamil presented port layouts and terminal designs that would best accommodate them. He focused on several terminal development projects that efficiently handle concentrated passenger traffic and designs that provide public access to the waterfront.

Pierre Voges, chief executive officer of Mandela Bay Development Agency, presented a case study on Port Elisabeth, South Africa, a city facing universal challenges of port/city land use integration (the separation of the central city from the waterfront by port, industrial and transportation infrastructure) but with the challenge of integrating economic classes in South Africa. Voges described land use patterns and areas targeted for regeneration at the port, the waterfront and within the city’s neighborhoods. He described a strategy that focused public improvements and joint developments that will serve as catalysts to revitalization. These improvements would be placed about the city in a way that would merge revitalized areas and provide access and integration among neighborhoods, the waterfront and the port area.

Francesc Triay, president of the Balearic Islands Port Authority (Spain), presented an overview of successful port/city developments at several Spanish ports over the last 15 years. Triay described the democratization of the port administration process and the collaboration necessary between the port authorities, the municipality and the state. He laid out the policy framework developed in Spain that resulted in the creation of consortiums made up of these players which shared common port regeneration goals and therefore produced positive results. Triay emphasized the need for “citizen ports”, which maximize public access, mixed uses and pedestrian open space, to be integrated into the city’s urban fabric – and provided several examples of this approach to urban design and port development in Spain.

Jean-Marc Beynet, project director at BRL Ingenierie (France), presented a new technology that would result in less agitation experienced on ships and boats anchored offshore or on piers. The technology consisted of buoys and a mechanism that creates a flow of air and water that cushions the lateral edges of ships and boats to reduce the agitation from waves and currents that usually occurs at anchorage. This newly developed technology has been adequately tested and can be considered an alternative to constructing berth and quay expansions in areas where space is limited or environmentally fragile. Beynet described anchorage and tenders for cruise ships as favorable to cruise ship passengers, bringing them closer to popular destinations The technology does not disturb marine life or the marine surface.

Quinten de Gooijer, general manager at Tempohousing (Amsterdam), presented an innovative approach to dealing with surplus cargo containers by utilizing these structures as attractive, comfortable, temporary housing and other land use options. De Gooijer described various projects underway that incorporate container structures into their developments, which includes housing, offices and hotels. He debunked the concerns that containers are too small, too dark, too hot, or uncomfortable, by presenting successful examples of container units converted to attractive student housing and hotels, with much light, and with spaces larger than those provided by standard market development.

John Ahlborg, board chairman at AquaVilla (Sweden), presented his company’s initiative to provide housing on floating platforms at the waters’ edge. He demonstrated cross-sections of the platform technology and area plans of housing communities built over the water, interconnected with floating sidewalks, allowing more space for housing and the opportunities for living a waterfront lifestyle.

SESSION IV

INNOVATING IN ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE

Wed, 25th, 14h00 to 15h30

Chairman: Yann ALIX

The 6 presentations in this session have enabled the two following points in the development of innovations to improve the economic performances of operations in the ports and the management of interfaces with urban spaces to be put in evidence :

1. Operational and technological innovation to optimise the exploitation of rare, expensive and much coveted spaces. These innovations should permit even more efficient operations in the handling and transit of goods. Technological innovations (Port Feeder Barge in Germany and Metrocargo in Italy) or operational proposals (Vuosaari in Finland and New Gateway & Direct Access Road in Leixoes) have been presented with the aim of fluidifying the transit of cargo and especially containerised goods.

2. Informational and security innovation to support an optimisation of the community or communal handling of the flows of data that accompany all the physical flows of products transiting through the ports. Concerted management within a logistics community benefiting from an optimal quality of all the information circulating throughout the value chain proves to be essential. Cargo Community Systems (CCS of the Soget System in most of the French ports) are an example of the imperative necessity to continue in the sense of innovations rendering computer systems ever more user friendly, efficient and secure.

The innovations presented during this fourth session tend to show how much innovatory technological solutions can be integrated in port systems to modes of management in continuous evolution (Co-opetition approach in Port Governance in the North Adriatic). The conclusion for this session is the fact that the economic and logistic efficiency of secured transfers of constantly growing flows of cargo requires ever more innovatory technological solutions.

SESSION V

SESSION V
INNOVATING IN THE MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENT - SUMMARY REPORT

Chair: Mr Michael Dooms, University of Brussels

Ports have been very active in environmental management since the 1990s. Considerable resources have been invested in the management of environmental externalities generated by ports and industrial clusters, from an operational point of view (reducing emissions, reducing waste, improving modal split, reducing visual intrusion, etc.) as well as from a strategic planning point of view (integrating ecological and nature conservation criteria in port planning). Nevertheless, ports still need to earn their long-term ‘license to operate’ through big investments in multi-channel communication towards the community of stakeholders. This is particularly valid for ports located in densely populated areas like cities. In other words, green port management can only be successful if besides reaching the objectives as set out by the environmental strategy, the appropriate resources are invested in communication about ongoing initiatives and results. The different cases provided by the speakers contained several elements of guidance when applying a green port management strategy in practice.

Mr. Hankla from the Port of Long Beach showed that through innovation a very ambitious green port policy was implemented since 2005. Key success factors were (1) the collaboration with partners, even competitors, (2) concession policy as an instrument to change user behaviour (3) day-to-day communication with citizens. Furthermore, the presentation made clear that setting quantifiable objectives is a key feature to implement the strategy. The proactive policy allows the port to attract more business and realize a ‘green growth’.

Mr. Oldakowski from the Baltic Ports Organisation showed the growing importance of the Baltic region in economic terms, pointing at several parallel environmental challenges to handle the projected growth. Through a number of case-studies, the importance of communication (Vuosaari Port), the collaboration between organizations (New Hansa) and the importance of a learning network between ports were highlighted.

Prof. Gröndahl provided an insight into the different environmental impacts that occur on the harbour side as well as the externalities generated by port users. He suggested more attention to initiatives like the reduction of speed of vessels, who not only contribute to lower emissions, but also limit coast line erosion. The risk of an oil accident in the Baltic was also identified.

Mr. Manrique from the port of Santander presented an integrated project of a dry bulk terminal reducing dust emissions to zero. The example showed the importance of collaboration between public sector and private sector. Furthermore, technology and innovative thinking in terms of storage, loading and unloading led to a new dry bulk terminal which contributes to zero dust emission, integration in the landscape and improvement of the modal split.

Mr. Wittman presented Siemens’ solution for shore-to-ship electricity. As ships can be compared by little cities on the water in terms of MegaWatts, the solution offers a considerable decrease in CO2, NOx and PM emissions. The solution allows for a 11,5 ton per day saving of fuel. The success factors to implement the solution are the adoption of a tailored multistakeholder approach as a lot of parties are involved and try to capture the economic benefit.

Mr. Bogaert from Bogaert Architecture provided visual impact case-studies from around the globe (Greece, France, South-Korea, Turkey,…). Here, it is important that improvements of the existing situation of old industrial areas are important, and that simply eliminating them from the landscape is not a sustainable solution. Ports and related industries must open up, as image is an important vehicle for performance and to communicate this performance to the general public, as numerous images showed.

SESSION VI

INNOVATING IN SOCIAL COHESION
Thursday, 26th, 9h00 to 11h30
Chairman: Michèle Collin

How can the societal dimension necessary to projects for a sustainable development conjugating a better life and a stronger economic competitiveness in the port city be ensured ?
The wide variety of the presentations comes from very different solutions from one city to another, which go from conclusions on the long term to current reflections under way or more prospective ones.

1 – Saint Petersburg has been presented in the dynamics of the rapid growth of a re-articulation of public and private investments. A strong centring on tourism and cruises in the context of the development of the ports on the East Baltic coast has been exposed without any reference to the societal question.
The renovation of the Guayaquil waterfront (as from 2003) has been integrated into a project for the re-composition of urban social economics the exemplarity of which in matters of human development in Latin America has been underlined by the United Nations. It has enabled a "renaissance" of the port city with the development of the business and tourist sector repositioning it in the world as a main point of access to the South Pacific.

The "20 years managing Port Vell" of Barcelona insists on the strategic "Special Plan" which has enabled economic development and integration of social, identity and environmental factors to be articulated. The new arrangements for city – port cooperation, negotiations between a multitude of stakeholders, the concept of "citizen port" have permitted a "consensus" and a "social cohesion" for the good execution of the project.

2 – Some speakers have presented a prospective dimension on projects under way with proposals for integration of innovatory participative arrangements :
- "Citizens’ panels" put into the situation of expertise were proposed by the Port of Amsterdam, with a view to working on the conflicts between port development and quality of living for the citizens. Such arrangements are developing especially in the cities of Northern Europe.
- " Bauforums" in Hamburg, think-tank workshops – laboratories for ideas
- brought together international speakers and residents, citizens and immigrants, to determine the Master plan for the HafenCity project. This procedure of public participation started in 2003 and is continuing in time to make HafenCity into a "laboratory of the future" by integrating conflicts as an element of the creative and innovatory process;

Finally specialists presented their thoughts and recommendations on the importance of putting immaterial factors into value for the mobilisation of the citizens of the cities;
Professor Dr. Eric Van Hooydonk (Antwerp) centred his lecture on the necessity to integrate the concept of "soft values" into port projects and planning. Port history, port heritage, port art, waterfront redevelopment, cruise tourism, port tourism, port ecology…today represent the central elements of the competitiveness of port cities and permit a ranking of port cities different from the old rankings on tonnages.
Gert B. Urhahn (Amsterdam) developed the concept of "public value", using the example of the North Sea Canal – Amsterdam grouping which marks the importance of identification, of an imaginative world and of the emotions of the population instead of port places and territories as factors of a modern urbanity.

The Chairlady insisted on the importance of the immaterial against the material, of soft against hard, of societal against technique and engineering in the new type of development called sustainable. The emergence of the notion of citizen, and no longer only as users, in the implementation of port city projects above all implies the new necessity of going beyond the recurrent policies of communication and information of the populations. To work and to put into value the representations, the affects and feelings of the citizens vis a vis their port city puts them into a situation of innovation and creativity. The places that do this integrate conflicts as a productive and creative dynamic to enable an identification and appropriation of the projects.

Such interrogations about democracy in the city largely remain to be invested.