MedCruise attended the 9th ‘Our Ocean Conference’, held on 16 April in Athens. The event celebrated excellence in maritime sustainability through the ‘Blue Ports and Destinations’ Awards ceremony, honouring four exemplary ports.
Organised by BlueMissionMed in collaboration with MedCruise and with the support of the European Commission, the main objective of the Awards was to recognise, promote and support the best practices within the ports and shipping industry, highlighting ports’ significant contributions to the EU Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’.
The role of MedCruisealso encompassed collaboration with other associations like Cruise Europe and CLIA in dissemination efforts, aiming to broadenparticipationof ports and destinations in the Awards and extend their reach beyond the Mediterranean region.
Identifying outstanding achievements across different categories, among many participants fromdifferentregions in the Mediterranean and northern Europe, the ceremony announced the4winners and 3 were MedCruise ports members: Port of Ravenna (Italy), for its visionary strategies driving the city’s green transition in the category ofSocial, Corporate Sustainability, Community & Port Connectivitycategory; Port of Heraklion (Greece) and Galataport Istanbul (Turkey) jointly honoured for their unwavering dedication and innovative initiatives fostering sustainable practices within the maritime sector in theEco-Conscious Entrepreneur & Personalitycategory.
In theBuilding, Design, Construction, or Technical Sustainability Solutionscategory, thePort of Antwerp-Bruges (Belgium)was acknowledgedfor its constant commitment to sustainability across all operational elements.
Figen Ayan, President of MedCruise, served as the Chair of the ‘Blue Ports & Destinations’ Awards, setting another example of MedCruise’s long commitment to sustainability andthe advancement ofa thriving blue cruise industry. Ayan added, “The Blue Ports and Destination Award has been an excellent platform and milestone to highlight the great sustainable and environmental efforts of the ports and the industry to meet the 2030 targets at the EU level. We need to continue this path with our concrete actions and our strong sense of collaboration”.
The Conference featured the Mission Ocean side event organised by the European Commission, the Environmental Defence Fund andBlueMissionMedproject entitled‘Concrete solutions for our greatest challenges: Mission Restore our Oceans and Waters by 2030’.
The innovative initiatives and actions under the EU Missionwere highlighted:‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’thataddress some of the greatest challenges faced by marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity.
It also showed the growing partnerships between different foundations and the philanthropic community. This event emphasised the importance of developing further the coordination between public and private funding to facilitate the restoration of islands worldwide.
