British Ports Association Awards Winners Announced!
Two UK ports and one extraordinary individual were awarded at the BPA’s Annual Conference in Aberdeen! The winners are:
Outstanding Port Award: Port of Tyne
Port Sustainability Award: Port of Milford Haven
Extraordinary Individual Award: Emma Ward (Port of Dover)
The Port of Tyne won the Outstanding Port Award for its excellent efforts to tackle the issues of skills and staff recruitment in both the port and wider sector. In July 2021 the Port of Tyne launched its graduate programme, and in 2022 it launched an online learning academy for personal and professional development across the port – with over 400 modules available! It is also creating a toolkit with the Carbon Literacy Trust to be made an industry-wide resource to benefit other UK and international ports, aiming to inspire a change of culture and processes within the port industry.
The Port of Milford Haven won the Port Sustainability Award for their ambitious decarbonisation efforts and their transition away from a traditional oil and gas port. It is aiming to provide the foundation of the UK’s energy independence through the Milford Haven Waterway Future Energy Cluster – a coalition of energy companies, renewable developers, green technology innovators, and the local council. Together, this innovation initiative has set a low carbon vision for the Milford Haven by backing a South Wales Green Freeport bid and a South Wales Floating Offshore Wind Bid, helping expand the region’s energy capacity by 10 gigawatts by 2030. The port also works with schools to provide tools to help children learn how climate change is affecting the local area, and this year it launched its Green Energy fund to provide support to charitable organisations wishing to decarbonise.
Emma Ward won the Extraordinary Individual Award for her relentless efforts at the Port of Dover to ensure that over 4000 stranded HGV drivers could make it home for Christmas, after the French authorities closed suddenly their UK border. Emma has slowly worked her way up through the port, now leading a team and providing solutions for what has been an undeniably challenging period for Dover.
Congratulations to all our winners and we look forward to the 2023 BPA Awards!