Spanish port receives accolade for its circular economy project

Earlier this November, the Port of Sevilla was presented with the European Sea Ports Organization’s (ESPO) 2024 ESPO Award for its circular economy-oriented project, believed to hold benefits for both the city and its community.

As disclosed, the Spanish port received the award on November 6 at a ceremony held in Brussels, Belgium for its project titled “Circular Economy for Valorising Maintenance Dredging Sediments”.

According to the Port of Sevilla, this initiative was developed to address the need for ecologically friendly management of the sediments extracted during maintenance campaigns of the Eurovía del Guadalquivir—which is used as a maritime access route—while sticking to the principles of circular economy.

As explained, the port has been leading a navigation optimization project on the Eurovía del Guadalquivir to ‘improve navigability and increase ship cargo capacity.’ The entity highlighted that uncontaminated fine sediments extracted during maintenance work are now generally repurposed to boost biodiversity and restore coastlines, among others.

“For years, we have been working to valorize dredging sediments as a resource, not as waste; and we use them to create new habitats and improve ecosystems, as well as to enhance agriculture and the ceramic industry, advancing the production of Guadalquivir bricks,” said Rafael Carmona, the President of APS.

With the pressure on the shipping industry to decarbonize rising, organizations, stakeholders, ship owners and operators have sought numerous ways to go green.

ESPO shared earlier this year that ports, particularly European ports, will need ‘multi-billion’ dollar investments for the climate neutrality targets to be achievable. Specifically, in its ESPO Port Investment study, the entity found that managing bodies may need to secure up to €80 billion for the next 10 years, up to 2034.

That said—climate change remains a persistent challenge and, for ESPO, the most significant one that the industry should be placing its focus on. Namely, in its Environmental Report 2024, the organization spotlighted that adapting to these changes is ‘essential’ given that 64% of the ports questioned conveyed operational challenges related to worsening climate – a 47% increase from the previous year.

Nonetheless, ESPO unveiled that 73% of ports were working to improve the resilience of existing infrastructure, while 86% were integrating climate adaptation into new projects.