On 18-19 February 2025 the TREASURE consortium gathered in Durres to discuss the progress of activities and plan next steps towards testing innovative solutions to improve environmental conditions in the participating ports.
In the frame of the second work package, environmental assessment activities were discussed: partners have already identified what lines of evidence (sediments, water column, bioassays, bioaccumulation of chemicals) will be tested and in which sampling points, and environmental analysis are about to start in all TREASURE ports.
Over the past few months a set of innovative remediation techniques to environmental pollution in port areas were collected through a call for expressions of interest, which closed in December. The 52 eligible applications will be included in the TREASURE catalogue, planned for June 2025.
In the meantime, dedicated workshops with selected innovators will be organised to have a deeper insight into the innovative remediation techniques proposed. Indeed, the first of such workshops was held in Durres with a specific focus on Water Management/Quality and Biodiversity preservation. Specific solutions on treatment of contaminated marine sediments, benthic monitoring, digitalization of marine assets, robotics solutions and water treatments were presented at the meeting by the University of Pisa, COSMA, Seabots, Marine Robotics, and Bio-UV Group.
The catalogue will provide important inputs and ideas for remediation testing in the TREASURE ports that is about to start in Durres, Livorno, Bar, Valencia, Piraeus, and Valletta. Pilot actions vary from monitoring the consequences of the use of scrubbers in port’s water quality, measuring the level of pollution in ports caused by waters discharges and rainfalls, testing the contamination of sediments deriving from port activities, implementing new techniques for their characterization, and monitoring (and containing) how port loading and unloading operations affect water and air quality around port areas.
During the site visit, organised by the hosting partner, participants had a chance to learn more about future development plans for commercial, logistic and touristic activities of the port of Durres.
The second day was dedicated to knowledge exchange and building synergies in a workshop about environmental best-practice in Albania, organised jointly with the ASAP project (funded under the Interreg ADRION programme) and TRUE-BLUE initiative (CEI support to Training and Research to Unlock and Enhance the potential of sustainable BLUE Economy for regional cooperation and EU integration).
