Environmental issues are coming to the centre of the port development debate. It is no longer financial and engineering concerns that drive port development. Rather, it is achieving consent to development that is critical. Time delays and increased costs have become a major brake on trade growth.

This is already the case in Europe and North America and will certainly come to the fore elsewhere in the short term.
It is not sufficient for project promoters to try to “steamroller” opposition - or for environmentalists to simply object to new economic realities. Ports can be developed on a responsible environmental basis and considerable experience has been gained at the world level.
On this conference also dredging and its environmental impact will be discussed.

GreenPort 2006 is a forum for the discussion of these issues – it is the first meeting of port developers and specialists and will chart a way forward for the responsible and environmentally-literate development of new port capacity.