The new EU Ports Strategy rightly recognises that ports are no longer just logistics hubs – they are becoming key nodes of Europe’s clean energy and industrial systems. 

It is encouraging to see the European Commission acknowledge the role of ports in deploying net-zero technologies, including carbon management (which includes CCS), their electrification needs, and announce targeted workshops on the practical application of EU energy legislation and industrial decarbonisation in ports.  

At the same time, a few elements must be strengthened as the strategy moves from vision to implementation. 

• First, ports must be recognised more explicitly as major future electricity demand centres in EU and national grid planning. Without sufficient grid capacity, port operations and industrial activities in ports will not be able to decarbonise through electrification. Efforts to enhance demand forecasts should therefore not be restricted to onshore public supply.  

• Second, electrification should extend beyond ships when docked. Charging infrastructure and incentives for electrified port machinery – cranes, forklifts and other non-road mobile machinery – would accelerate the decarbonisation of day-to-day port operations. 

• Third, stronger links to green public procurement would help ports become lead markets for low-carbon materials and equipment. As large public buyers, port authorities can drive demand for low-carbon cement, steel and zero-emission heavy machinery used in port operations. 

• Fourth, the workshops planned on carbon management, as part of the strategy, should focus on integrating ports into Europe’s emerging CO₂ transport and storage networks. 

• Finally, the strategy’s social objectives are promising, particularly regarding skills, training and quality jobs in the port sector. However, these elements are framed mainly as policy objectives and guiding principles rather than binding conditions for receiving EU funding. We urge the inclusion of training and skills development conditionalities in public funding for port development projects to ensure that investments contribute to a just transition of ports. 

The direction is right. Now the task is ensuring that electrification, procurement and CO₂ infrastructure are fully aligned with Europe’s industrial decarbonisation agenda. 

Read Bellona’s earlier consultation response here.