Rhine-Alpine News

12.01.2022

EIB providing €300 million to finance Port of Genoa expansion

Photo: Ports of Genoa

Photo: Ports of Genoa

The European Investment Bank (EIB) provides a €300 million framework loan to Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mar Ligure Occidentale (Port Authority of the Western Ligurian Sea) to contribute to financing the largest renewal of the Ligurian port area in the past 25 years. The plan, initiated before the collapse of the Morandi Bridge in 2018, became even more necessary and urgent in its aftermath. It spurred several public entities in the region to embark upon an ambitious investment programme aiming to improve access to Ligurian ports and airports.

The EIB loan will contribute to financing different works, including the new Genoa breakwater. The work will reduce the risks of climate change-induced flooding and enable modern cargo ships to access the port easily, loading and unloading cargo safely. It will facilitate access to the Port of Genoa, granting it a strategic advantage for capacity and production development. The project will also contribute to upgrading the FuoriMuro railway network with 750 metres of track, benefiting freight transit and reducing the road traffic caused by arriving lorries. The EIB financing will enable the restoration of existing quays and the development of shore-to-ship electrical connections (cold ironing), allowing berthed ships to receive power from the ground-based electricity network, cutting emissions from fuel. Work is expected to start in 2022 and end in 2024, with the exception of the breakwater, to be completed by the end of 2026.

See full press release here: https://www.portsofgenoa.com/components/com_publiccompetitions/includes/download.php?id=3058:press-release-eib-funds-ports-of-genoa-development.pdf

Thyssenkrupp builds electrolysis in the port of Rotterdam

© Photo: Port of Rotterdam/ Danny Cornelissen

© Photo: Port of Rotterdam/ Danny Cornelissen

Thyssenkrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers will manufacture a 200 MW electrolysis plant in the port of Rotterdam on the basis of its 20 MW large module for alkaline water electrolysis. The company has signed a supply contract with Shell for the project ‘Hydrogen Holland I’. Construction work on the electrolysers is expected to begin this spring. Shell’s final investment decision for the construction of ‘Hydrogen Holland I’ is expected later this year, with commissioning scheduled for 2024. The center of the hydrogen project facility will be a hall of two hectares. Green hydrogen is produced for industry and the transport sector, with the electricity coming from the Hollandse Kust (Noord) offshore wind farm. Proofs of origin should guarantee that.

The hydrogen can be transported via an approximately 40-kilometer pipeline that leads from the facility to the Rotterdam Energy and Chemical Park to Shell. The manufacturer regards climate neutrality as one of the top priorities for the system: Wherever possible, reusable building materials are to be used and the outer walls of the plant are to be equipped with solar cells.

See full article (in German) here: https://www.verkehrsrundschau.de/nachrichten/transport-logistik/thyssenkrupp-baut-elektrolyse-im-hafen-rotterdam-3108215

European Year Rail – A balance sheet by the Pro Rail Alliance

Connecting Europe Express, Photo: EGTC Rhine-Alpine

Connecting Europe Express, Photo: EGTC Rhine-Alpine

The German “Allianz pro Schiene” (Pro Rail Alliance) draw a balance of the European Year of Rail held in 2021 and pledge for a decade of rail. According to the Pro Rail Alliance, Europe is growing together on the rails, but interruptions still predominate.

Dirk Flege, Managing Director of Allianz pro Schiene, said: “The European Year of Rail is coming to an end with progress in fast connections, night trains and investments in the networks. But the national borders in the EU are still major obstacles on the tracks. Traveling by train across borders should and could be much easier – for both passenger and freight transport,”emphasized Flege. “A European Year of Rail is not enough to remove the patchwork quilt. If the future is to belong to climate-friendly rail, the EU must proclaim a decade of rail. ”

See full article (in German) here: https://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/zugfahren-ins-ausland-muss-in-der-eu-einfacher-werden/

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