#myportforTurku - In addition to Cruise Europe 2016 conference held in Dublin this week, another prestigious annual event is to be held in the capital when the European Sea Port Organisation (ESPO) conference convenes, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The ESPO conference is to take place this week (2-3 June) as previously reported on Aloat.ie As part of the official sponsors, ESPO are to host the #myportinturku photo exhibition at their 13th annual conference to take place at The Printworks in Dublin Castle and hosted by Dublin Port Company.

ESPO will be inviting its members, policy makers and stakeholders to the conference that will look into ways to improve the efficiency of maritime transport and ports from different angles.

The European Commission had announced the 50 winners of the #myportforTurku photo competition following an invite to citizens across Europe to send up to three photos of their favourite ports from Europe with #myportforTurku.

The photo competition was part of the public programme of events held during the European Maritime Day’s (EMD) conference as previously reported on Afloat.ie. The  four-day conference took place more than a week ago in the Finnish city on the Baltic Sea.

All the photos were taken over a five day period in April and in which the Commission received 579 pictures, representing 166 ports, from 234 authors from 24 countries. The selected pictures totalling 50 went on display in Turku.

Each winner received a maritime prize (books, free tickets to aquariums and maritime museums, even fish!) from one of the 45 sponsors. Moreover, the attendees of the EMD each choose their favourite picture and the 10 best ones among the 50 exhibited were announced on 19th May.

The 50 selected pictures come from the following ports: Algeciras, Spain; Antwerp, Belgium; Barcelona, Spain; Bilbao, Spain; Callelongue, France; Copenhagen, Denmark; (see picture above: Cork, Ireland); Enschede, Netherlands; Hamburg, Germany; Huelva, Spain; Ibiza, Spain; Kolobrzeg, Poland; Koper, Slovenia; La Coruña, Spain; Le Havre, France; London, United Kingdom; Marsaxlokk, Malta; Newlyn, United Kingdom; Oskarshamn, Sweden; Ravenna, Italy; Rotterdam, Netherlands; Saint-Malo, France; Sète, France; Southampton, United Kingdom; Thorup Strand, Denmark; Trieste, Italy; Turku, Finland; Valencia, Spain; Venezia, Italy; Ventspils, Latvia; Vinjerac, Croatia; Whitby, United Kingdom; Zadar, Croatia.

“We are proud of being the first to host this exhibition. This photo exhibition shows how European citizens are interested in European ports, big and small, and how they see our ports. ESPO has always been putting societal integration high on its agenda. This Commission initiative is certainly a way of bringing citizens closer to the ports”, says ESPO Secretary General Isabelle Ryckbost.

To consult the selected pictures click here and for an interactive map of all the entries click this link.