EWP specialises in the environmental aspects of the Ports/Terminals, Shipping, Transportation and Logistics sectors. Their current offerings include a quarterly GreenPort Magazine, E – Newsletter, Website and Events (including the ‘Energy for Green Ports’, ‘GreenPort Logistics’ and ‘GreenPort Congress’). Also coming through the affiliation is the Danube Summit, the region’s primary Conference and Exhibition for the Danube, involving the ongoing development of freight transport logistics services and transport infrastructure along the Danube Corridor. The fifth biennial Summit took place in May/June of this year.

‘This is a great opportunity for both businesses, said Mercator Media MD Andrew Webster, ‘It brings valuable knowledge and experience of the environmental challenges faced by the ports and terminals as well as the role inland waterways play in the European intermodal and logistics chain’.

‘They are great brands that overlap our existing business through Port Strategy magazine. Our existing business support and online backup will help them to grow. It will also complement and improve the B2B channels we both provide to our clients’.

The driver for this initiative is the future performance of the global marine ports and services market which, according to business information analyst Datamonitor, will accelerate with an anticipated compound annual growth rate of 7% over the next five years. It is expected to drive the industry grouping to a value of over £42bn by the end of 2014.

Governments around the world view ports and terminal as critical infrastructure assets, which are subject to government control and regulations. Their ability to ‘go green’ by reducing their carbon footprint and by being more sensitive to environmental considerations will be vital to their future success. GreenPort provides senior decision makers with the crucial content on aspects of sustainable environmental practice that will enable them to effectively implement these changes.

The next GreenPort event will be ‘GreenPort Logistics 2011’ and ‘Energy for GreenPorts 2011’, taking place on 23 and 24 February next year in Venice, organised in cooperation with the Venice Port Authority. This will be followed by the annual GreenPort Congress on 14 and 15 September 2011 in Hamburg, the 2011 European Green Capital. Both events have the support of the European Sea Ports Organisation. The next Danube Summit is scheduled for Belgrade in September 2012.