With the UAE’s target goal of net zero carbon by 2050, smart ports and ongoing green investments of Provence, France can raise the bar on UAE’s investment space.
According to Hervé Martel, CEO of the port of Marseille Fos, the port of Marseille Fos is one the greenest ways to connect the European markets to the rest of the world, especially for the flows coming from beyond the Suez Canal.
“Passing via the port of Marseille Fos, it is a concrete and direct contribution to the reduction of the international maritime transport carbon footprint,” he says.
Not only for the maritime leg, but for the land transport as well. “This ambition can be shared with the port operators, supply chains actors, and logisticians from the Gulf region.”
Key sustainability lessons for Gulf port operators
Among the sustainability objectives of the Port of Marseille Fos is to manage the energy and the logistics flows in the port by implementing smart procedures, according to Martel.
“The port aims at creating a sustainable and resilient ecosystem and for years, it had to integrate the green transition in its investments and actions.”
The main strategic actions of the port, described in the Strategic Plan 2020-2024 Green Port for Blue Economy include introducing innovation, digitalisation, searching for energy autonomy, and providing sustainable solutions for the international trade actors. (ie) Strategic agreement between Total Energies and CMA CGM for the supply of LNG for future CMA CGM containers ships.
A new approach for smart ports
Being a smart port is not a decision, but Martel suggests it is a way of thinking with no limit for the investment possibilities since they contribute to the sustainable objectives they have for the port and its territory.
“All port activities are concerned by this new approach: terminals operations, multimodality and intermodality, digitalisation, data submarine cables and their data centres, and renewable energy production,” he says.
“Our objective is to welcome new and innovative and disruptive investment especially on the PIICTO platform (1,200 hectares) fully dedicated to the development of the circular economy and sustainable projects.”
Investment projects in low carbon energy and industrial ecology
The two main sectors welcoming green investment are smart cities development and green transportation development, says Philippe Stefanini, General Director, Provence Promotion.
“Both highly urbanised, both the Mediterranean region and the Gulf region are in proximity to semi-closed seas which potentially can make them impacted by climate change,” he says.
Recently at the Dubai Air Show, Provence HQ Airbus Helicopters led the way with the first SAF flight in the Marseille Airport, which aims to become the first zero carbon airport in Europe by 2030.
Further adding, Matthieu Vis, Head of International and Strategy, Provence Promotion, highlights how Marseille could be an expert with its technology and innovations, alongside EDF’s investments to help Marseille decarbonise.
Interxion spearheads river cooling for data centres
Stéphanie Marco, Deputy Managing Director, EDF Middle East, points out that Marseille is in the top 10 global internet hubs, thanks to Interxion, with their subsidiary Dalkia for this project. To install its data centres, Interxion had to work with the town hall and relinquish classic refrigerated cooling systems; a roof top has replaced the equipment originally expected on MRS3, in favour of cooling by fresh water.
An Interxion spokesperson elaborates: “In Marseille, the water from the port is not cold enough (and only 40 metres deep), and so Interxion uses water from an underground river to refresh its data centre instead. The project was developed to speed up the implementation of this system which heats buildings in the Euroméditerranée ecodistrict of Marseille in winter and produces electrical energy in summer with the calories released by datas.”