ARRS project: Developing a Sustainable Model for the Growth of the "Green Port"
Head: Dr Peter Vidmar, Associate Professor
Abstract: The EU follows the trends in increased goods flows, the reduction of environmental pollution, and the competitiveness of transport and logistics services in the European and global markets. The European Commission dedicated the year 2018 to multimodality. Among the key topics is the field of development of multimodal infrastructure, which will strengthen the functioning of the TEN-T network. Slovenia pursues the European policy in the field of development of multimodal infrastructure. There are several projects and research studies in the field of railway and port infrastructure development that are crucial for the operation of multimodal transport and the development of core TEN-T corridors across Slovenian territory (the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor and the Mediterranean Corridor). The cooperation and research carried out so far have shown that such studies require specific knowledge and a longitudinal research approach. Such studies are difficult to be implemented with standard approaches and require specific research tools and field-specific measurements and surveys. The complexity of the field of research and multidisciplinary topics (transport engineering, coastal engineering, marine science, etc.) require the successive use of many different research methods.
The objectives of the study are to examine the nautical and coastal characteristics of the Gulf of Trieste and Port of Koper in terms of possibilities for the further deepening of the fairway, enlargement of the mooring areas, impacts on the seabed and the coastal area, and risks to the sea and coast. The aim is to obtain quality information that will provide the basis for long term planning for the development of maritime transport in Slovenia from the nautical, coastal engineering, social and economic risks points of view.
Developing a Sustainable Model for the Growth of the "Green Port" is an applied project and of high interest for the Port of Koper and national authorities. It falls within the interdisciplinary field because it deals with large interventions into the sea. The project will also focus on the ecological impact, in line with PIANC recommendations (more than 30 recommendations refer to dredging, which is why it is necessary to examine the effects of the latter from a very broad perspective, from archaeology to waste material disposal, among other aspects).
Since the project is interdisciplinary and includes three organisations, it is divided into work packages (Specific Objectives). Each work package is conducted by one or more research organisations (partners), whereas the research content is sequentially or parallelly structured. The work plan is based on the concept of work packages, where each partner has specific tasks as specified in the project application.