"Technological advances are profoundly changing the multiple work processes that take place in the ""port world"". It is a singular intersection of private and public disciplines where the interests of a plurality of subjects are gathered: public bodies in the port and maritime sectors in their various forms, loading and unloading companies, carriers and shippers, industrial companies and other users, port workers, and of course, the entire national community, becouse the economic and social importance of the ports themselves. In this context, work in ports requires even greater professionalism, specialization, safety and stability.Ports are an asset of vital importance for the European economy. In fact, over 70% of goods crossing European borders travel by sea and ports really represent the commercial gateway to Europe. European ports employ 1.5 million people and manage goods for a total value of 1,700 billion euros each year.A port is not only consist in breakwaters, dams, docks, dockyards, wharves and piers but it also consist in technological networks able to communicate with ships, trains and goods lorries.The port labour demand has fundamentally changed its characteristics due to technological innovation and the high degree of automation processes. This demand is reduced in terms of number of units of workers, but at the same time this raises the level of skills and training required for the port operations being carrying out. This level can only be guaranteed by high quality on going and refreshing training systems that are able to identify the needs of companies and motivate, listen and involve port workers in port work changes.The objective of the project is to define the basis for a European training plan in ports that, while respecting the individual national regulations, identify common applicable elements throughout the European Union. The project will focus on the exchange of best practices on continuous training for the development of innovative professional skills on the following topics:1)New port skills: training systems to update the skills of the workers in the perspective of the increasing automation of the port terminals. Optimization and sharing of plans for continuous training. Retraining themes:- Digitization- Automation2)Port government bodies, entrepreneurs and managers in project partner countries: exchange of best practices from application of the European law on the guidance and management of ports to the organization of port in relation to new European legislation on privacy.3)Port system organization:- Environmental sustainability of the ports - Ports integration in the urban area- Energy from renewable sources in port areas- Safety and security: best practices for involving companies and organizations working together on transversal issues in the port system.Exchanges of best practices will include meetings in partner countries for 3 to 5 days maximum.A maximum of 72 pupils (participants + accompaining person), divided between partner countries, may be involved during the project time. They will be selected in each partner country among port workers in port terminal, port authoryties, port companies, marittime authoryties depending the topics of the meetings.One of the results of the project is a network creation with the partner of the project and other institution not partners in this project building a cooperation to set up a technical board aimed at develop the many initiatives including:a) build and consolidate a cooperation network;b) build and share criteria and methodologies to realize new projects for validating and certifying professional skills in the port, logistics and maritime sector;c) build criteria and operational modalities to encourage the mobility of human resources in the port and logistics sector;d) cooperate in matter of learning and skill certification, development programs as per premise;f) involve respective territorial networks disseminating the objectives of the project in the areas of interest in order to extend the multiplier effect and promote networking.The impact of the project at the local, regional, national, European levels is the develop of the skills and competences of port workers (manager, enterpreneurs, chiefs of personell, trainers, tutors, etc...) concerning:-- new professionals profiles discussed in meetings- transferrable analysis of units of learning outcomes in the port sector using procedures related to evaluation, transfer, validation and adding of learning outcomes in formal, informal and not formal contexts- information and diffusion to stakeholders and wide public- increased employability and social inclusion in the port sector"

Project aims were to support national and regional rules on skills recognition according to ECVET system as following: it easier for people to get validation and recognition of work-related skills and knowledge acquired in different countries;increase the employability of VET graduates and the confidence of employers in specific skills and knowledge in VET qualifications.The aims were to develop a method of recognizing core skills in the port and logistics fields. VETPORT focused on the professional figures:Terminal Manager- Planner/ Supervisor-Drivers.These roles have been selected because they are essential for port activities. The roles are transferrable from port to port and can be adopted in other sectors.The Consortium was composed by six members:Livorno Port Authority- Vocational Training Centre manages training, certification and accreditation system for port community;Provincia di Livorno Sviluppo technical assistance EU projects;STC-GROUP Rotterdam provides training for the shipping, transport & logistics, port-bound;Valenciaport Foundation is a research training center for logistics-ports community;NMCI-CIT is specialised on training of maritime professionals;CFLI provides training, re-qualification of workers in LOGISTICS.The main activities of VETPORT were:Studies and Resources on the three port common professional profiles.It was compared qualification framework and occupational standards, designed common grounds and defined the main work processes for each profile. ECVET definition of skills, knowledge and competences has been used to describe the core abilities to carry out the work processes. This has resulted in groupings of abilities connected to actual work processes, reflecting the complexity level of occupational standards.The result was the definition of pilot transnational occupational profiles to which all partners have contributed. Pilot profiles, linked to ECVET standard, have been detailed to become training standards, identifying LO and including breakdown in Units corresponding to ECVET indicative points. A master training programme was designed for the profiles.Programmes were tested during the training mobility week. A Technical English training program was included for port handling vehicle.It was signed the MOU which contains the main features according to the ECVET standards and indications on how the learning outcomes related to the one-week mobility would be assessed and validated.A communication plan was provided, for the dissemination and valorisation of project deliverables. Website was done in IT/EN and linked to partners' websites as well as a social networks page. A video documentary was provide to explain the activities developed.It was designed a guidelines, to propose, at local, national and EU level, a mutually recognizable framework on training of port workers in view of extending this system to all port professions.Contribute to make training mobility an important and recognized tool for professional growth both in job placement training and as an experience exchange for those who are already employed. The method followed has been based on the” competency-based training and minimal training requirement”.79 workers from partner ports were involved visiting terminals in ports of Cork, Livorno, Rotterdam and Valencia. 9 training mobility weeks were carried out between November 2016-April 2017. 18 Drivers, 29 planners and 32 port terminal managers took part in training weeks, visiting container,multipurpose,ro-ro partner ports. 30 terminals were involved in sending & receiving workers,contributed to designing the training week program.5 transnational meetings were carried out:A kick off meeting in Livorno 2015; In 2015 two SC were done in Valencia;In 2016 two meetings were organized in Rotterdam and in Venice;In 2017 the SC met up in Valencia and Cork. The results achieved by the partnership were: Definition of based core competences to be improved during the one-week mobility and the minimal training program required to be assessed in term of ECVET for the profiles and recognised by the partnership embedded into ECVET standard;Design a Technical English training program for port handling vehicle for the acquisition of based competences; Collect VET best practices of the professional training program. Training week had a major impact both on workers and employers.Participants stressed the value of the program in terms of topics discussed and improved skills and knowledge;increased participation in mobility as opportunities for a professional growth.Sustainability to the project aims is the consolidation of the network and its enlargement with the organisms that took part in VetPort Continue working on share methodologies for designing “ competency based training and minimal training required” to validate and certify for professional skills in the port sector in view of getting equivalent professional qualifications recognized at local, regional and EU level.

Nowadays coordinated and every time more complex terrorist attacks are shocking the world. Due to the progressive rely of industrial sector and many critical infrastructures (CI) (e.g. EU ports) in ICT systems, the impact of a coordinated physical attack, a deliberate disruption of critical automation systems or even a combined scenario including both kind of attacks, could have disastrous consequences for the European Member States’ regions and social wellbeing in general. Taking into account this fact and this real threat on EU ports as one of the main CI in Europe, SAURON project proposes the holistic situation awareness concept as an integrated, scalable and yet installation-specific solution for protecting EU ports and its surroundings. This solution combines the more advanced physical SA features with the newest techniques in prevention, detection and mitigation of cyber-threats, including the synthetic cyber space understanding through the use of new visualization techniques (immersive interfaces, cyber 3D models and so on). In addition, a Hybrid Situation Awareness (HSA) application capable of determine the potential consequences of any threat will show the potential cascading effect of a detected threat in the two different domains (physical and cyber). On the other hand, through SAURON approach the public in the surroundings and the rescue/security teams will be able to be informed on any potential event/situation that could put in risk their integrity. Thus, SAURON proposes as main objective to ensure an adequate level of both physical and cyber protection for the EU ports and limiting, as far as possible, the detrimental effects for the society and citizens of a combined attack (physical & cyber) to an EU port. Reducing the vulnerabilities of EU ports, as one of the main European critical infrastructures and increasing their systemic resilience in the face of a physical, cyber or combined threat will be also part of the SAURON main objective.

The Port of the Future will be able to enhance sustainable development and to manage the resources to be invested and their employment for a competitive advantage. Therefore, the port of the future must be oriented to port community and have an operative strategic capability to work, in line with European purposes, on the following: - Smart, through ICT solutions, because it is important to improvement exchange of information flows between port and port community; - Interconnected with the use of a combination of different modes of transport and the integration of different technologies, because it is important to achieve better monitoring and controlling of the freight flows; - Green through the adoption of green technologies because it is important to reduce the environmental impact of port operations saving the resources. All in all, sustainable development is the present and future for ports that want to lead the industry supported by three cornerstones: Operational Excellence, Insightful Collaboration with partners through the supply chain, and top notch Safety, Health and Environmental practices. PortForward proposes a holistic approach that will lead to a smarter, greener and more sustainable port ecosystem and which will include the following features: - The introduction of an Internet of Things (IoT) concept for port assets (infrastructure, vehicles, cargo, people): - The socio-economic analysis of the port interface with its surrounding area and the port-city, as well as the rest of the logistics value chain.

Ports are essential for the European economy; 74% of goods exported or imported to the EU are transported via its seaports. At the same time, the challenges they face are only getting greater: Volumes of cargo increase while they also arrive in a shrinking number of vessels: Post-Panamax vessels have a capacity of more than 18k containers. Port operators need to comply with increasingly stricter environmental regulations and societal views for sustainability. A sustainable land-use strategy in and around the port and a strategic transition to new, service-based, management models that improve capacity and efficiency are paramount. They are key enablers for ports that want to keep pace with the ocean carriers needs and establish themselves as trans-shipment hubs with a ‘societal license to operate’; for ports whose land strategy, hinterland accessibility and operations are underpinned by circular economy principles. COREALIS proposes a strategic, innovative framework, supported by disruptive technologies, including IoT, data analytics, next generation traffic management and 5G,for modern ports to handle future capacity, traffic, efficiency and environmental challenges. It respects their limitations regarding the port land, intermodal infrastructure and terminal operation. It proposes beyond state of the art innovations to increase efficiency and optimize land-use, while being financially viable, respecting circular economy and being of service to the city. Through COREALIS, the port will minimize its environmental footprint to the city, it will decrease disturbance to local population through a reduction in the congestion around the port. It will be a pillar of business innovation, promoting local startups in disruptive technologies of mutual interest. COREALIS innovations are key both for the major deep sea European ports in view of the new mega-vessel era, but also relevant for medium sized ports with limited investment funds for infrastructure and automation.