“The results we achieve and the solutions we find are better if they create a foundation for a common way forward to the benefit of our safety, security and common environment. As such, over the years, the two PAs have supported highly valued cross-border flagship projects,” says PA Ship & Safe coordinator Ms. Josefine Eva Lilly Pallesen.
An example of such flagship project is the PA Ship Flagship ECOPRODIGI, which focused on digital solutions for increasing efficiency and reducing emissions for ships when at port or utilizing existing data to reduce bunkers consumption. Another example is EnViSUM, which has provided policy makers and ship owners with sound evidence that strict, global environmental regulations of shipping can benefit human health and the environment without threatening business. PA Safe flagship project, STM Validation has helped to increase safety at sea (and improved efficiency) by improving the sea traffic management (STM) in the BSR and beyond.
Engaging multi-level stakeholders
To achieve outstanding results engagement of different stakeholders and civil society is crucial. “In PA Ship and Safe we attempt to draw on and engage all bodies in society – government agencies, industry, academia, international organizations, etc. We mainly do so through flagships projects. The aforementioned PA Ship Flagship project ECOPRODIGI had 21 partners in total, whereof some were from academia, some governmental and 10 represented private industry. Moreover, through quarterly newsletters we invite all relevant stakeholders in civil society and the professional realm to take part in events and meetings in order to secure the widest representation possible,” tells PA Ship & PA Safe coordinator Ms. Josefine Eva Lilly Pallesen. PA Ship and PA Safe holds close links to other PAs within the macro regional strategy as well and a number of events and activities have been planned in collaboration with these. An example hereof is the recent digital event titled "Alternative Fuels: Impacts on Maritime Safety and the Environment in the Baltic Sea Region". The webinar brought together diverse speakers from the maritime industry, public sector, and academia to discuss the opportunities and challenges related to the deployment of alternative fuels. The topic of the event was not only limited to the maritime domain, but equally as important for other PAs either dealing with transport in general or energy production, etc.
Joint efforts make a greater difference
What is more, there are numerous good examples on close cross border cooperation within both PA Ship and PA Safe mentioned above. A good example is the PA Safe Flagship project DiveSmart, which has helped Baltic Sea countries and their national authorities, enhance their search and rescue operations in the BSR. The first in the Baltic Sea region online database created by DiveSMART-Baltic compiles human diving resources and competences as well as diving equipment in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden. “Thanks to this database currently managed by the Swedish Coast Guard, rescue services and authorities in countries around the Baltic Sea can validate the available resources and better plan search and rescue missions in an underwater environment where local resources are not sufficient,” PA coordinator Mr. Valtteri Laine says.
Towards a greener future for shipping
It is not surprising, that PA Ship & Safe have touchpoints with European Green Deal that seeks to improve the well-being and health of citizens and future generations. The EGD outlines that shipping has to reduce GHG emissions by 90 % in 2050. “This cannot be achieved without early involvement of national policy makers, ship owners and ports to lay out a viable path to transform to a decarbonised business model,” Ms. Josefine Eva Lilly Pallesen tells. PA Ship and PA helps in this regard as a vehicle for bringing stakeholders together as was the case with ECOPRODIGI or STM Validation. By fostering collaboration across the value chain of shipping, the two PAs can play a small, but significant part in reducing or even eliminating GHG from shipping. The PAs can do so by supporting concrete projects, focused on exactly these challenges and opportunities related to reaching the objectives of the EDG.
Find out more about PA Safe & Ship and their activities here.