The projects of the ports of Ceuta, Barcelona, Tallinn and the cooperation project of the ports of Ancona, Ravenna, Venice, Trieste, Rijeka, Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik have been shortlisted for the 14th ESPO Award on Social Integration of Ports.

The jury selected these four applications from a total of seven submissions on the theme of this year’s edition: “Role of maritime passenger transport in enhancing the city connectivity and bringing added value to the local community”.

The ESPO Award 2022 will go to the port managing body which has developed a series of initiatives and/or a strategy in collaboration with the different stakeholders and the city to enhance the maritime passenger links and the connectivity within the city or with other cities and regions of Europe, be it for its own citizens or for allowing visitors from all over the world to visit and discover the city and bring added value to the local community.

The role of the port in enhancing the connectivity through a smooth and friendly passage through the port in and out of the city, as well as efforts of the port to give visitors a first good impression of the city or region are important criteria. Environmental and social sustainability of the project or strategy will be a prerequisite for winning the ESPO Award 2022.

“Maritime passenger transport enables ports to link people and cultures across regions and countries but it is also a real challenge to ports. Ports are already expert in dealing with goods in an efficient, cost-effective and secure way. Passenger transport brings different requirements such as protection from the elements, comfort, aesthetics, integration of the seafront in the fabric of the city and also the need to avoid disruption when large numbers of passengers have to be transported from and to the port.

"This year's seven submissions underline efforts to address these issues in innovative ways. From new construction and relocation, to information and integration, architects, engineers and local authorities spare no effort to make this means of transport more attractive. Irrespective of whether they have been shortlisted or not, all projects have their merits and the jury wishes great success to all of them.", comments Dimitrios Theologitis, Chairman of the ESPO Award Jury.

The winner of the 14th ESPO Award will be announced during the traditional ESPO Award Ceremony and Dinner taking place on 8 November in Brussels. The shortlisted projects will be presented on the ESPO website in the coming weeks and all seven submissions will be presented in a special brochure to be published on 8 November.

About the ESPO Award: The ESPO Award was established in 2009 to promote innovative projects of port authorities that improve social integration of ports, especially with the city or wider community in which they are located. In this way, the Award aims to stimulate the sustainable development of European ports and their cities.

Previous winners of the Award are:The Port of Gijón (2009), the Port of Helsinki (2010), the Ports of Stockholm (2011), the Port of Genoa (2012), the Port of Antwerp (2013), the Port of Koper (2014), Port of Dublin (2015), BremenPorts (2016), Guadeloupe Ports Caraïbes (2017), Port of Rotterdam (2018), Port of Dover (2019), Algeciras Port Authority (2020) and Port of Gdańsk Authority (2021).