Tag Archive for: RePort project

Escola Europea's Executive Committee meeting - January 2021

1000+ students pass through the Escola’s doors in 2020 despite the pandemic

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Distance learning, digitalisation and online courses will mark the evolution of the Escola Europea in the near future, as was found during the bi-annual Executive Committee meeting on the 21st of January 2021.

The meeting brought together representatives of the 5 founding partners of the Escola – Catalina Grimalt from the Port Authority of Barcelona, Luca Lupi from the Port Authority of Civitavecchia, Silvio Ferrando from the Port Authority of Genoa, Mario Massarotti from Grimaldi Lines and Mr Antonio Pedevilla from GNV. Representing the Escola Europea, the director Eduard Rodés who also serves as the president of the Committee and the Escola’s Chief Financial Officer Concha Palacios – the Committee’s secretary – attended.

During the meeting various milestones of the Escola’s difficult 2020 were reviews. The Covid-19 pandemic had brought the activities of the Escola to nearly a standstill from March 2020 through the summer. A nearly existential shift took place to restructure the Escola’s iconic practical workshop courses to fit the new distance-learning and virtual environment. Nevertheless, there were some important achievements that took place despite the obstacles. More than 1000 students have managed to pass through the Escola’s doors through 19 courses and 12 Logistic Port Workshops. More than 20 scheduled practical courses had to be postponed to an unspecified date due to the global health crisis – a grim conclusion to an already grim 2020.

During the Committee meeting, a review took place of the projects that the Escola is currently involved in and has planned for 2021. A new training course for members of the MEDPorts Association focused on Energy Transition in Ports s is currently in the works, scheduled to take place either virtually or, if the situation permits, in person in May and June 2021. The Escola’s leadership participation in the YEP MED project, co-financed by the European Union, was also highlighted. A new project – called TechLog, was also summarised – this project is currently in the consideration stage of the ENI call for proposals. The Escola’s role in other projects, including RePort as well as the projects it is managing on behalf of the Port of Barcelona such as the CarEsmatic and Core LNGas hive projects, was also highlighted.

The future looked even brighter in the now newly digitised world of the Escola as the meeting came to a close. Eduard Rodés highlighted the upcoming new collaboration with the Occitan Region of the South of France in the new “Vivez l’intermodalité” project – an expansion of the Forma’t al Port in France. Moreover, the development of a new Virtual Lab, brought to life through the YEP MED project characteristics, is looking to bring new life to the TransLogMed project in 2021.

The Executive Committee meets twice a year to review the progress and achievements of the Escola Europea’s operations. Its next meeting will take place in November 2021.

The Port of Barcelona completes the RePort project with 26 trucks converted to dual-fuel

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The RePort project, led by the Port of Barcelona is making positive progress and preparing for its final phase. The initiative aims to promote natural gas as an alternative fuel for trucks.

“Today we already have 25 trucks transformed to support compressed natural gas (CNG), and of the remaining one will be transformed to liquefied natural gas (LNG). For this we will put some LNG tanks and adapt the engine so it can work with both diesel and gas,” explained Daniel Ruiz, environmental consultant for the introduction of Liquefied Natural Gas to the Port of Barcelona.

On the 19th of February Daniel Ruiz presided over the general assembly of the RePort project. The meeting aimed to clarify the last points of the final phase of the project, which is scheduled to end on 15 April this year. This included “closing the technical part of the project and the economic justification, where all the documentation must be submitted in order to process the grant”. Also, the meeting served to “talk about the last transformation of the trucks to LNG”.

According to Ruiz, the transformed trucks correspond to different companies that are part of the Association of Container Transport Companies (ATEC according to its Spanish name).

In the words of Daniel Ruiz, the most important thing of this initiative, led and coordinated by the Port of Barcelonam, is the “reduction of emissions of NOx and CO2”, alongside the “reduction of the economic bill, as the use of natural gas results in less consumed diesel, therefore making it more profitable for truckers”.

The RePort project

 The RePort project planned for “the transformation of 26 trucks that operate in the Port of Barcelona and transport containers of goods, transforming them from diesel to the dual-fuel mode, with the use of compressed natural gas or liquefied natural gas,” said Daniel Ruiz, from the Port of Barcelona.

RePort is funded by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund under the Catalan FEDER Operational Programme, managed by Acció, the Catalan Government’s agency for business competitiveness.

The project partners are the Association of Container Transporters (ATEC), Gas Natural Fenosa, Generalitat de Catalunya, Dimsport Spain, IDIADA or the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, and the Escola Europea-Intermodal Transport, among others.

Daniel Ruiz reiterated that “the transformation of the engines has consisted of the installation of a switchboard”, which controls the injection of gas into the engine and gas tanks. Of the trucks that are part of the project, 25 have a deposit of compressed natural gas and one has been equipped with liquefied natural gas.

For more information about the project, you can visit the project pages:

 

 

Source:

Diario del Puerto