This good practice includes the regular spread of information to public related to the activities occurring in ports under the governance of the port authority via the web page and even further, by social media channels (Facebook and Instagram) started by the port authority, encouraging the public to engage and have an active role. This best practice, like brand communication, enables branding of the port authority (and ports under its governance) as well as active marketing of ports that could use this to promote ports under their governance and offer all the information that current and potential users may be interested in – from nautical information to information about services in the port and the surrounding area. Further enhancements could include a separate app for ports under their jurisdiction, and so on.

• Electric charging points which deliver and count power, thus avoiding waste. • Piers in reinforced concrete before covered with Iroko wood while now coated with rubber coming from 100% recycled tires. • Use of green and sustainable cleaning supplies. • Purchase of energy from renewable sources • Installation and use of reverse osmosis desalination plant for the production of the water • Eco-friendly furniture on the piers (ex. Taps with timer) • Presence of last-generation water treatment plant that collects and recycles rainwater • A system for pumping, treating, and disposing of wastewater and bilge water • Self-sufficient hot water systems fed by solar panels • Anti-pollution treatments for the bunkering area and for the water used to wash boats, thus saving drinking water. • At the top of each jetty new-generation cigarette end disposal bins have been installed, made of • nontoxic and 100% recyclable materials. • Dredger used for the maintenance of the seabed at the port’s entrance and in the harbour, basin allowing for the reuse of excess sand to replenish nearby beaches. • Meeting with stakeholders, public bodies and local schools providing lessons on marine plastic pollution • organization of activities of beach and seabed cleaning, together with scuba divers. • providing practical advice on how to travel in a sustainable way on the ports’ website • address an area of the port to artisanal products, objects and souvenirs realized with raw materials coming from the sea.

App, easily downloadable, which allows yachtsman to reserve their berth. In the app there is a simple table in which information can be filled in (personal data, boat data, period of stay) to request the availability of berths, and then convert it in a reservation. The app has also other types of services: – Possibility to reserve a table in one of the four available restaurants in the port (choosing date, time, number of people) – Possibility to buy a take-away lunch, dinner or drink directly in the app, choosing date and pickup time of the meal. – The app also offers a chat service on Whatsapp. Tapping on the Whatsapp logo the user is directly linked to a Whatsapp chat with a port representative. – The App provides useful information about the port and contacts – The App is available both in Italian and in English The same services the app offers are also available on the website dedicated to the port together with additional ones.

The Website is intended for: • Port users who want to reserve a berth: by filling a simple table with information on personal data, boat data, period of stay to request the availability of berths. Such info is then converted in a reservation. • People interested in ancillary services (ex. restaurants) • Commercial activities of the port, which can upload their service and make it available to users (ex. car and bike rental, wellness center, fitness and swimming center, MOBY and Sardinia ferries, Golf Clubs. Port’s customers can take advantage of a 10/20/30% discount on the price list for the use of these services) The Website could be improved by: • promoting it in wider channels of communication • making the reservation of affiliated services directly available on the Website

EFINTIS aims to increase efficiency of the intermodal transport flows in the programme area by upgrading management information systems. The project will enable, improve or establish new ICT connections between different modes of transport for passengers as well as for goods (maritime, road and railway transport). As ports are usually hubs for all modes of transport, data collection and exchange will be established and will enable faster administrative procedures. The main potential of the project is the increasing need for better connection of transport subjects in the region, by developing ICT solutions and harmonizing them with EU standards and requirements.

SMARTPORT Project aims to enhance South Adriatic and Ionian ports’ energy profile by introducing eco-sustainable LED lighting system through 6-month long pilot actions and adopting new and efficient energy strategies that, following the European standards, combine the use of renewable energy sources, energy saving, energy storage and smart grid technologies. The project is still ongoing and the placement of the equipment has to be done yet.

Within this project a comprehensive website where many valuable information about the coastal territories are available (transports, traditions, cultural heritage, territory descriptions) has been created with the aim of enhancing the number of visitors to cultural heritage sites of the coastal territory as well as the public access to these sites.

The overall objective of “ALMONIT-MTC – Albania, Montenegro, Italy Multimodal Transport Connectivity” is to increase cross-border accessibility, promote sustainable transport services and facilities and improve public infrastructures. In particular, four multimodal maritime transport connections will operate between Italy, Albania and Montenegro, while a new pilot multimodal transport on Lake Shkodra will connect Albania with Montenegro.

Collaboration with several companies and stakeholders of the territory to offer multimodal transport such as e-bikes and new thriving experiences (e.g. the possibility to sleep on suspended tents, or to discover old case factories and art of milking, to make guided tours and walks etc..) The initiative is intended for: • Tourists who can enjoy the activities • Associations and regional authorities who can promote the territory through it • Stakeholders who can become part of this network and promote their business and could be advanced: • by promoting it in wider channels of communication, for examples by creating an app – widening and differentiating the offer every year according to tourist demand

To reach this aim some activities will be implemented: • the revitalization of the railway, which used to be the main connection for overseas cargos in the past decades • the construction of the new container terminaI and fishing port • the extension of nautical port capacities, with the integration of all the elements of the system as a whole All these actions will enable the port to achieve an exceptional competitiveness as well as the complexity of the supply on the market and thus the improvement of the entire system.

Portable waste storage equipment represents a simple, yet effective solution for most common marine related waste. This storage unit consists of a an outer “shell” made of steel, neatly designed in a way that if any kind of spillage occurs, compartment below the base level safely captures it. Inside the storage unit there are two separate bins each with a special purpose of safely storing of the waste that is most commonly a byproduct of any kind of ship related business conduct (passenger (tour operators) boats, water taxis, semi submersibles, smaller cruisers…). One container (bin) is specially designed for storing oily rags and oil filters which when left unattended can cause serious pollution. The other bin is designed for safe storage of waste oils which also if not adequately stored present a hazardous material. A RFID solution consisting of keys/tokens/cards that can be distributed to port users and that can be monthly/yearly billed according to the average weight of disposed waste would eventually improve such BP.

Based on technology from oil spill response systems, company SpillTech has created the PortBin tide product range, robust and simple devices for removing floating waste. The PortBin mechanism works in much the same way as an oil skimmer. It sucks in surface water and debris from surrounding areas, filtering waste into a container. When the container is filled with waste, it is easily emptied into a container and fitted back into the PortBin. In Bergen, Norway, a single, small-size PortBin collected over 12 000 pieces of plastic in six months. About 60 per cent of the plastic came from single-use packaging for food and drink, as well as from other items for private consumption. The PortBin is delivered in different sizes, ranging from the standard tide version with a 30-litre container to an XL 1 000-litre version. PortBin tide was the first of several products developed by SpillTech for marine waste collection. The company’s goal is to create a diverse “toolbox” for handling waste at ports.

This best practice example derives from the need to ensure an alternative to the traditional seating system which in its core presents something simple with no visible need for upgrades. Steora CCTV represents a new generation of SMART benches that represent the combination of smart technology featuring safety environment. The smart bench is ideal for public spaces that are in need of higher level of security in open public spaces. The bench model is equipped with four cameras, one on each side of the bench creating a 360° overview of the surroundings. The cameras are also equipped with infra-red light which ensures a quality recording even during a night. The bench is weather and vandal resistant but requires AC for 24/7 operation. Bench configuration options: access live streaming and recordings via dashboard (Ethernet or fiber optics) + HDD storage inside the bench; Live broadcast only via the control panel, without storing videos on the hard disk (there is no hard disk inside the bench; Video material is stored on the hard disk inside the bench, there is no access to recorded material or live transmission via the control panel. Combining the energy of solar panels and an alternating network, the bench retains all its functions throughout all seasons, adapting to outdoor conditions. Grid power is mainly used during the lower days of insolation. When the solar battery charge drops below 30%, the AC module turns on to quickly charge the battery system. Because it can be powered from the AC source, the bench offers additional features such as seat heating or powering other devices in its vicinity. The bench contains monocrystal photovoltaic system resulting in 110W of power ensuring enough energy to power 2 USB ports and an interactive LED light ensuring visually attractive product. It has a wireless charging point (10W) and a Wi-Fi hotspot (4g LTE – 150 Mbps) with a 4–20-meter range.

Marina Master is a highly customizable and modulable software solution which offers a wide range of products and services which greatly enhance port’s business conduct through implementation of the modules which are considered most suitable after taking into account port’s infrastructure and superstructure background. The implementation of a system that integrates all aspects of the Port Authority’s operations will enable optimal control over the operations of the Port Authority in all port areas it manages and at the same time enable the control of the mooring capacity occupancy. The application enables better integration of the operational part of business and management. Additionally; it solves the problem of duplicate data entry and possible errors that occur during the input, facilitates access to the data since all the data is digitized and in one place, the software is also available through the mobile application, statistical reports on traffic in the port are generated, significantly reduces the paperwork, radically speeding up processes, digitizing business and enabling better financial control. Long term goal has to be broadening the technological base of ports and harbors through creating a technological mesh of solutions, adding a new layer of visibility and constantly increasing the security of passenger maritime traffic in the port basins.

This best practice example derives from the need to ensure an added level of security to the ports to minimize possibilities of theft or damages to the property in the small ports and harbours. Some small ports open to public traffic in Croatia are not fenced like marinas and in most locations they are located in the towns’ centre hence open to everyone, so the majority of the ports have a night watchman or sometimes even security personnel. Aside from covering ports with adequate lightning Port Authority Split moved a step further by introducing security cameras or a CCTV system. Video cameras are useful tools for monitoring and recording incidents that occur within the system’s capability range. Video camera recordings provide a window into an event that may have occurred after the fact. Monitoring with a video camera also allows you to see what is going on in real-time. The cameras are monitored from the Port Authority’s operations centre and provide 24-hour coverage protecting the port area from damage arising from any variety of hazards, losses or threats which is evident especially during the summer season when some tourist destinations have three or even four times the number of people than the locals during the winter. Long term goal could be to be broadening the camera’s capabilities by enabling visitors to see real-time monitoring via an app.

Combination of several transport options (from air to train, to public transport) in the same journey. It entails connecting the existing, mode-specific transport networks and allows travelers to plan, book and ticket their trip door to door through any mode of transport. This could favor the connectivity of the small ports with the hinterland

The project aimed at enhancing the precious historical and cultural heritage of the Adriatic sea as a function of tourist promotion launching a new way of considering the port, intended as a tourist destination to be rediscovered and enhanced. It was also aimed at improving the public use of such heritage. This project allowed the archaeological recovery of the imperial ports of Claudius and Trajan as a best practice for the enhancement of the ancient ports.

One big issue related to the management of waste discarded in sea is the proper process of collection and disposal. Currently the practice to collect waste in sea, e.g. by fishermen, is not made easier considering that littering is considered a “special” waste that needs specific treatment. To solve this problem, a Protocol of Agreement for the “management of waste accidentally picked at sea”, also defining the actors involved in the process, has been implemented by the Marche Region (Italy).

The project aims to raise awareness and involve fishermen and mussel farmers by encouraging them to take the waste collected ashore, together with the waste material generated by their activities, and deliver it to the ecological islands equipped on the port docks. The guiding idea is to conceive the ecological island as an authentic environmental education oasis, where the containers become a means of communication on environmental issues and at the same time, through the landscape component, has an ecological function. Around the containers, some flowerbed areas slightly depressed may collect water from the increasingly frequent water bombs, becoming rain gardens and making the port pedestrian areas more resilient to climate change.

This practice prescribes the usage of LED lights for illumination. This kind of light bulbs are more energy efficient having a longer life time. The lights also need to be directed to the ground in order to reduce light pollution. This best practice can be improved by increasing the use of such technology.

Waste from boats should be collected and stored in a safe place and then sent or handled by a company specialized in managing hazardous waste. This best practice may be improved by enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of hazardous waste collection and disposal in order to avoid dangerous leakages.

The ability to collect waste dispersed at sea becomes a fundamental issue taking into account the environmental damage that all dispersed plastics are causing. The use of “Seabin” could be useful to improve the plastics’ removal from the sea. By filtering the water inside thanks to a mechanical movement, seabins are able to collect up to 1.5kg of plastic per day (over 500kg / year). Thanks to them, it is possible to remove a significant amount of polluting garbage and, above all, to monitor which objects and what type of waste are disposed incorrectly, deeping in this way the underlying problem. A wide diffusion of these tools may be a way to create a positive and green development of the small ports.

Redevelopment of the port’s docks and raising of the height from 1.10 m to 1.50 m above mean sea level. The aim is to secure the activities taking place on the docks from the sea level rise and storm surges. In the renewal of docks, various services can be accommodated such as electricity supply and water management. Docks can be also improved through the incorporation of other integrated and sustainable mobility systems and through a high-albedo pavement material to mitigate the high summer temperatures.

Construction of underground utilities such as black and white water and rainwater tanks, the resurfacing of the roads concerned and an innovative video surveillance system to ensure the security of the site and the regulation of access through automatic barriers. The intervention aims to improve the current regulation of the flow of people and ensure the proper use and safety of boarding and disembarking operations. The best practice is aimed at those who manage the security of docks and are responsible for their maintenance and construction. Public and private entities can apply the principles of this best practice to increase the security and accessibility of port activities. The operation can be extended by improving the safety of the entire area adjacent to the port, thus becoming an attractive location for new economic activities.

free wi-fi service available to the public. Hotspots are often spread along the beach coast and in some harbours, relying on existing structures and bathing establishments. In some cases they are reserved to the customers of the bathing establishments, while in others they are public and available also in the port areas, with the signal extended not only to the shoreline, but also in the water up to 300 metres from the coast. The best practice may be repeated by a number of public and private bodies that insist on the coastal area and offer services both to visitors of the beaches and to yachtsmen arriving by sea. This service has the potential to enter in synergy with others addressed to citizens and visitors. Indeed, the registration needed to access free wi-fi may be linked with other information and services for different user profiles, such as weather warnings, tide forecasts, cultural events and many other useful information that can be communicated through a website or an application.

Mainteining and remodelling the seabed in port areas by installing ejector devices with the Co-Evolve project. The system will prevent the accumulation of sediment and maintain over time a depth suitable for the functionality of the hauling and launching basin and the port area in front of it. The system consists of a series of devices – called ejectors – which remove the sediment in the area they control, transporting it to an adjacent area where it does not hinder navigation. The collection and subsequent transport of the material to be handled takes place without any submerged moving parts, by means of appropriately directed jets of water that temporarily suspend the sediment and, at the same time, convey it towards the transport and discharge duct. Such technology makes it possible to reduce the accumulation of sediment in the port area in an energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable way. The action can be enhanced by installing a basin monitoring system to assess and analyse sediment circulation at a wide area level. This approach would allow the better efficiency of both the exploitation of sediment caving areas, the systematic implementation of coastal erosion mitigation elements and the rationalisation of beach nourishment and excavation cycles. The approach is aimed at achieving a positive balance between the dredging of port areas, characterised by often polluted sediments, and the nourishment of coastal bathing areas.

It consists of an area destined to the tourist port, a dock for service vehicles, and an area dedicated to cruise docking. It also foresees the realization of an extension of the already existing breakwaters. This extension allows for more maneuvering space for large ships and at the same time serves as a coastal defense.

The “SeaGate” is a Port Authority of the Northern Tyrrhenian Sea initiative, designed to ensure the improvement of the efficiency, safety, and reliability of the port operational cycle and to reduce the time spent in port for goods. The “SeaGate” favors a greater connection with inland logistic nodes and multimodal corridors and a more intense and effective dialogue with the large national telematics platforms. It thus allows creating a logistics and transport network not only from an infrastructural point of view but also from a technological one, thanks to the availability of IT systems able to facilitate the exchange of information between the actors of the supply chain, simplifying procedures and making the flow of goods between ports more efficient and secure.

The activities included in the project are: – deepening of the seabed to -12.50 m up to -13.50 m with the dredging of several millions cubic meters of material; – construction of a new quay, over 1,000 m long, destined to be used as a container terminal reachable by the railway line; structural adaptation to the antiseismic regulations of existing docks; – realization of new logistic platforms urbanized and equipped in the port area using part of the material resulting from dredging, after accurate treatement.

This best practice include: o to develop a reference centre – human resources, tools, technologies and competences – dedicated to the design, implementation, coordination and monitoring of activities in the field of sustainable mobility, green buildings, requalification of existing infrastructures and energy production from renewable sources in the port area; o to implement pilot actions for the integrated improvement of energy efficiency in the port area, in collaboration with the Public Administration, companies and institutions operating in the port; o to define a roadmap for the development of small ports as well as communication and networking actions that will be activated during the project at local, regional and European level. The priority axes on which local stakeholders and decision makers should be involved are: o Sustainable mobility o Use of renewable energy sources o Green rehabilitation of existing buildings and infrastructures o Energy efficiency in industrial processes o Synergy with communities of innovators o Roadmap for the Green + Smart development of the Port

Design and testing of small-scale prototypes of ship engines partially fuelled by LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) within the Clean Port industrial research project for energy sustainability and pollution reduction in port areas. The aim is to involve local actors involved in ship engineering, proposing the development of a coastal network of regional shipyards and improving the co-operation of companies that both have a role in shipbuilding and in the chemical production of innovative fuels, adapting the existing infrastructures to allow the production of internationally competitive ship products. Specifically, the objectives of this best practice are: o Design of the port infrastructures necessary for the implementation of an energy smart grid. o The design will take into account all technical and fire prevention regulations as well as any urban, environmental and/or landscape constraints. o Construction of a collector station for natural gas and gas generated from biomasses appropriately purified for combustion in ship engines. o Study and substantial improvement of the natural gas liquefaction system for the storage of LNG on board vessels, integration with quayside facilities and exploitation of renewable sources through integration of natural gas from the network with gas from biomass. o Improving liquefaction and tank storage technologies. This will lay the foundations for the use of shore-based facilities as true refuelling systems without the costly and complex infrastructure required for the sole supply of electricity from outside the ship. The BP can be increased in its effectiveness by developing a census of the existing supply chain and the state of operation of the existing port infrastructures, considering at the same time the relationship with the urban and environmental system.

This Interreg MED Project aims at spreading information and knowledge about crowdfunding as such and as applied to the blue economy, in order to make it more accessible to the stakeholders involved. The project, addressing the blue economy sectors (blue energy, maritime safety, maritime transport, maritime tourism, fisheries and aquaculture), seeks to improve the competitiveness of blue economy SMEs through participatory funding and to develop the operational capacity of the regions to use such funds.

Improvement of relations between the stakeholders, the small sailing centers and the area where they are located. Indeed, it appears that the sailing centers are not involved in the cultural/naturalistic/tourist activities carried out in the territory. Involving the sailing centers can instead lead to an increase in the activities performed in the area, as well as bringing the customers of the sailing centers (temporary or seasonal) to know about the cultural/tourist features of the area and exploit them to allow their growth. Involvement best practice can be improved by bringing small ports to learn directly about the elements of the area in which they are located, through guided tours and direct relations with these cultural and naturalistic venues.

This practice prescribes the collection and purification of wastewater produced during the everyday activities of a small port. The water coming from dish washing practices is rich of fats and thus it is collected, and the fats are removed before the water can be used for other purposes. The wastewater from the boats is collected and purified and then used as “technical water”, i.e., for cleaning the boats, watering the plants, for toilets or it can be pumped back into the water stream. This best practice can be improved by enhancing the resource and time efficiency of the water purification process and the purified water can be used for other purposes instead of being pumped back into a water stream.

The need to develop systems to support navigation is certainly necessary for the qualification of a dock. The use of new technologies can be a way to support this transition. The navigation app ensures the safety of all the customers’ boats. The sophisticated tide control system signals high tide when the level reaches 70 cm. If the tide reaches 70 cm, the closing time of the port will be signaled, otherwise the customer can sail safely. A wide diffusion of these tools offered by small ports to their clients may improve the quality, safety and efficiency of such realities.