Sustainability and digitisation will be part of the future port

In 1868 the Port of Esbjerg was established, and right from the start, thousands of cattle and dairy products were shipped off from the Port. But soon needs changed, and Esbjerg became a giant fishing harbour with hundreds of fishing boats.

Today, the Port once again has a new face and is an international industrial port with approximately 10,000 employees across the companies. But in order to maintain its relevance, the Port must continue to be at the forefront.

How will the development of the Port in the next decades turn out? And how is the Port of Esbjerg preparing for the future?

"In my view, there are two crucial areas of focus in relation to the future development of the Port of Esbjerg. These are digitising and sustainability. Both we and the businesses at the Port should, in my opinion, focus very hard on this for many, many years," says CCO Jesper Bank.

Digitisation is a prerequisite

The first crucial focus point for the port of the future is, not surprisingly, digitisation. Just like all other parts of society, the digital development makes demands on ports. 

"Developments in the field of digitisation happen so fast that long-term plans are hard to work with. On the other hand, it's important to keep up on all fronts and kick off small and large projects on an ongoing basis in order to train the organisation to think and work digitally," Jesper Bank says.

An important focus point in the short run is to optimize the value of the large amounts of data the port has access to.

"We must become better at using data in a completely new way. It's about collecting it and making it available to ourselves and the world," Jesper Bank says.

An example of this is OnePortEsbjerg, on which the Port of Esbjerg has just put the finishing touches. The database collects all relevant data about calls, capacity and traffic in one place and makes it available to employees. This makes it possible to optimise the service because employees have access to data that tell exactly which quays are available, the status of traffic patterns at certain times of the day and much more. At the same time, the platform can optimise the processes in situations where many actors need access to the same type of data, as is the case in connection with transport.

"In the long run, we would very much like to expand the database with many more types of information. And then, of course, it must also be made available to the outside world in one form or another; both to companies at the Port, educational institutions, etc. At first, we are going to test it ourselves," Jesper Bank says.

When gazing into the crystal ball, he sees that blockchain holds the greatest potential. Among other things, it's about using experience gained from the digitalisation of data and implementing this experience on a large scale. It is also about the fact that the large quantities of documents, agreements and data that are a major factor of international shipping, will be far more accessible than today.

"Together with stakeholders in the different markets and industries, we must find the right balance where we lead and embrace the development of key areas without engaging ourselves headlong into new experiments," says Jesper Bank and elaborates:

"It must make sense. To the Port's service level and not least for corporate operations."

Sustainability will be business

The second key point of focus for the port of the future is sustainability. According to Jesper Bank, environmental and sustainability work is currently transforming from a supervisory and regulatory task to a market-driven and value-creating task.

"It is incredibly exciting. The sustainability agenda is no longer just checking requirements and legislation, but market-driven. It's all about business, pure and simple, for example in connection with the reorientation of energy," says Jesper Bank.

This development has been jump-started with the UN's 17 goals for sustainable development, which, for the first time, considers companies playing an active role. The point here is to find the areas where companies can create business because they are sustainable. Not in spite of this.

This very change is crucial, according to Jesper Bank.

"The development makes it possible to work on completely different types of ambitions. Therefore, it also makes sense that we need to be a green port, because it will allow us to better serve our customers and the needs they have," he says.

Today, when the Port acquires new cars, they are electric. So far, six out of 20 cars and vans are electric cars. And the electricity bought by the Port is green wind turbine power from Horns Rev 2.

"The green conversion is in progress and happening at a high pace. We need to find the right solutions together with the companies at the Port. Our approach is to constantly reach out, uncover the market and take in the situation," he says.

The Port recently attended a European forum in order to uncover the potential of plants for refueling cruise ships with LNG (Liquid natural gas, ed.). The assessment was that the LNG facility at smaller ports is not a good idea at this time. However, it may become relevant at a later point. The same goes for land power. The Port of Esbjerg is closely monitoring the development in this field and is, among other this, paying attention to the Norwegian experience with land power. Although the solutions may not be implemented right now, it is necessary to study the technologies that sooner or later will become a reality.

Jesper Bank briefly summarizes:

"The Port of Esbjerg is celebrating its 150-year anniversary as a roaring success. But we are already focusing on ensuring the future of the Port. Digitisation and sustainability are part of the port of the future. And they are already part of our day-to-day operations at the Port," Jesper Bank says.

Wind turbines as a business case

The best example of how sustainability and business are two sides of the same coin, is the offshore wind power industry, which provides a very obvious position for the Port to grow.

"Right now we see European offshore wind power farms without subsidies, something we quite frankly didn't see coming just a few years ago. The development in offshore wind power is impressive," Jesper Bank says.

One example is the project of the energy island 'North Sea Wind Power Hub' in the North Sea around the Dogger Bank. Just two years ago, the idea was only at the idea stage. Today, the project is formalised, and a collaboration is in full swing between, among others, EnergiNet and TenneT about creating an actual wind energy island in the North Sea which can supply power to all of Europe in the future.

"Visions in the field of offshore wind power are growing all the time while being realised faster. The task of the ports will be to keep up, enabling us to contribute to the development in a positive way. The speed we are seeing right now makes great demands on us," Jesper Bank says.

In order to be able to deliver within offshore wind in the future, two requirements are particularly crucial, according to him.

The first one is about ensuring flexibility in relation to shipping and installation. For instance, the possibility of expanding the quay in the same installation project or scalable storage capacity, ensuring there is always room for the major components. The second one is about capacity. Turbines and farms will become greater, and that requires space.

"Our task will be to match the needs of the future, and it's very much about optimising on everything that happens in the tension between production and installation. So far we have the capacity to match the need, but we must look for ways to do more," Jesper Bank says.