The Port of Dover has been successful in its bid to secure funding for the Green Corridor Short Straits (GCSS) feasibility study, it advises in a press release on their website. This is a project aimed at establishing a zero-carbon trade route between the UK and mainland Europe.
The Port of Dover handles freight and passenger traffic from the Dover Strait, which is the world’s busiest shipping lane. About a third of all UK-EU trade passes through the port, equating to about £144 billion of trade annually. The Green Corridor Short Straits study will examine the routes between the Port of Dover and the Ports of Calais and Dunkirk.
In a statement released by the Department for Transport, Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “The UK has always been a proud seafaring nation and helping the maritime sector to be more environmentally friendly will mean it continues to play a key role in the UK’s economy for generations to come.”
The green straits project will support the government’s ambitious sustainability agenda, which is committed to achieving a carbon net zero target by 2050. It is hoped that the initiative will boost high value economic investment in the area, with the development of green technology clusters in East Kent.
Port of Dover’s Chief Commercial Officer, Christian Pryce, said: “The Port of Dover is leading the way on Port decarbonisation, and more broadly, on recognising the role we will play in the decarbonisation of the UK supply chain.”
He added: “We are embracing the critical role and responsibility that the Port of Dover has, and recognise complexity of the journey we are undertaking, together.”
“With sailings every 36 minutes the port supports just-in-time supply chains across the nation, being the key entry and exit point for over 2m HGVs and equivalent tourist vehicles to the UK Strategic Road Network.”
A consortium of industry and academic partners will work on the project, including teams from the University of Ken, the Warwick Manufacturing Group, P&O Ferries, and Schneider Electric, plus other partners. The consortium have already successfully collaborated on the Dover Clean ferry Power Project from the Clean Maritime Demonstration project.
This was an initiative announced as part of the government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, with £20m of funding available for clean maritime technology.
Mr Pryce commented: “We can adapt to a diverse traffic profile and the flexibility, capacity and resilience of the route are unmatched in the UK, making us, and our French sister ports, the prime option for the first Green Shipping Corridor.”
He added: “In 2022, Dover has moved up a gear in our sustainable ambitions – announcing our ambitious sustainability strategy in May, the Port intends to reach net-zero (direct emissions and our purchased energy) by 2025 and reaching net-zero (indirect emissions caused by our activity) by 2030.”
It is hoped that a successful scheme run by the Port of Dover will provide an example for other UK ports to set up similar Green Shipping Corridors for vessels and leisure craft in the future.
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