• 3 min de lectura
• 3 min de lectura
The Pioneers and Magpie projects, funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 program, culminated five years of work with a concrete result: a Green Ports Master Plan delivered to the European Commission and free digital tools that allow any European port, and not just the 90 partners of both consortia, to apply the tested solutions.
Pioneers, coordinated by the Port of Antwerp-Bruges along with the ports of Barcelona, Venlo, and Constanta, developed 19 demonstrations related to clean energy, digital innovation, and sustainable port design. Magpie, coordinated by the Port of Rotterdam, tested 14 solutions in the same areas along with its partner ports Haropa Port, Sines, and DeltaPort.
Both projects have now consolidated their results into tools that can be used by any port. Pioneers' Green Port Master Plan Handbook Explorer offers a free five-stage method that addresses a port's current footprint, its vision for 2050, external pressures, tested innovations, and a roadmap. It also includes a methodology for calculating the carbon footprint and a test to identify a port's main barriers to advancing in the transition.
For its part, Magpie's Green Innovation Compass is an open knowledge platform that gathers information on innovative technologies, operational concepts, and digital solutions that can support the transformation of ports and the logistics linked to these facilities.
Together, both tools constitute the practical core of the Green Ports Master Plan delivered to the European Commission.
"Five years of Pioneers have shown that the technologies exist, the knowledge exists, and the partnership also exists. The challenge now is to scale up what works across Europe," said Rob Smeets, CEO of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.
The executive stated that trials alone are not enough and that ports must now address the regulatory, financial, and organizational barriers associated with each innovation, in addition to acting as facilitators between industry, energy, logistics, and governments.
"Europe needs to move innovations from pilot to practice more quickly. Magpie demonstrates how this can be done through structured European collaboration," affirmed Boudewijn Siemons, CEO of the Port of Rotterdam.
Siemons also pointed to the limitations of the current funding model and noted that the European Union cannot continue to indefinitely finance innovation programs of this type. In this context, he raised the need to seek new formulas, including a review of EU financial market regulation, to attract private and corporate capital towards port innovation.
The European policy perspective was reinforced by Han ten Broeke, chief of staff to European Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, who opened the conference, and by Isabelle Ryckbost, secretary general of the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO).
"The world is in transition: ports have to operate in a rapidly changing climate and in a turbulent global geoeconomic and geopolitical environment. This requires new ideas on how the port ecosystem can strengthen its resilience," stated Ryckbost.
In the afternoon, five Learning Labs were held, focusing on competitiveness and digitalization, energy transition, port security, access to financing, and social cohesion. These topics reflected the five pillars of the European Union's Ports Strategy, adopted by the European Commission in March 2026, and allowed for an analysis of how these experiences can be put into practice in ports, cities, and industries.
With the Master Plan and its tools now publicly available, Pioneers and Magpie conclude their work, leaving instruments that can help European ports move towards greener and more resilient operations and, thereby, contribute to defining the future of Europe.
The projects received funding from the European Union through the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.
