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Port of Turku nominated for European Seaports ESPO Award – the winner to be announced on Wednesday 4 November

Nov 4, 2009

Port of Turku nominated for European Seaports ESPO Award – the winner to be announced on Wednesday 4 November

Bridging the Port and the Citizens of Turku

espoaward.jpg : 3Kb The Port of Turku has been selected as one of seven best nominees for the first ESPO Award on So-cietal Integration of Ports by an international jury on 23 September 2009 in Brussels. 30 project appli-cations from various European ports were submitted by the given deadline.

The winner of the ESPO Award will be announced on 4 November during an evening ceremony at the Brussels’ Town Hall. The Award itself is designed by the Belgian artist François Schuiten. The award ceremony will be attended by the following delegation from Turku: Christian Ramberg, managing direc-tor of Port of Turku, Jaakko Tikka, managing director of Forum Marinum maritime centre, and Krista Taipale, Head of Turku-Southwest Finland European office.

The Port of Turku submitted a project called Bridging the Port and the Citizens of Turku. The main idea of the project is close cooperation with the maritime centre Forum Marinum. The objective of the project is to bring the port closer to the citizens by setting up a virtual port in Forum Marinum. Nowa-days the port is a restricted area for citizens in compliance with ISPS security regulations. With the help of a virtual port the citizens can learn about port operations in real time. The cooperation between Forum Marinum and the Port of Turku is an excellent example of cooperation between an organisation engaged in cultural activities and a b-to-b enterprise.

“The quality of the applications received was outstanding”, said John Richardson, chairman of the jury, and former Head of the European Commission’s Maritime Task Force. “This is very encouraging and shows that more and more port authorities care about social integration of their ports. The great diversity of projects however made our work extremely challenging.” The jury came to the conclusion that the submissions of the ports of Algeciras, Genoa, Ghent, Gijón, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Turku made the most favourable impression and were therefore selected for the shortlist.

More information: Christian Ramberg, managing director, Port of Turku
GSM: +358 50 5533 100, christian.ramberg port.turku.fi

Port of Turku is a competitive service centre of logistics and transport that forms part of the Nordic Triangle transport corridor. A link between Scandinavia, Russia and central Europe, Turku is the only train ferry harbour in Finland, meaning it has the capacity to serve trains, trucks, containers and trailers. The Port of Turku specialises in passenger traffic and the handling of unitised cargo. Nearly four million tonnes of cargo and nearly four million passengers pass through the port annually.

Forum Marinum is a national special museum specialising in merchant shipping and naval history and also an active maritime centre. It collects, maintains, researches and interprets objects, archive material and traditions relating to Southwestern Finland’s merchant shipping and naval history. It mediates historical information through exhibitions, publications and events.