16th of April 2026, 16.00-17.00 CEST
Over 80% of global trade relies on maritime transport, making it essential to the functioning of the global economic system. Ports lie at the centre of it all and are estimated to generate around 2.6% of global GDP. They are complex ecosystems encompassing not only the actual port itself and the infrastructure on the port site, but also entire logistical chains that interact with it upstream and downstream.
Ports and their ecosystems face many challenges linked to climate change, including sea-level rise, rising temperatures, increasing extreme weather events and flooding. They also have a series of logistical challenges and needs linked to weather and water monitoring, transportation optimisation and many more.
Whilst they are heavily affected by climate change, ports can also significantly contribute to climate change (significant GHG emissions, air and water pollution, land use change, marine and terrestrial biodiversity reduction, etc.) and other negative environmental (coastal erosion, water quality, waste management, etc.) and social impacts (such as noise and light pollution, congestion in the surrounding areas, etc.).
Earth Observation (EO) technologies and EO-based solutions can support ports and their stakeholders in addressing many of these challenges, as well as optimising operational needs, including for example, monitoring environmental impact such as air and light pollution, understanding how land and infrastructure is being used and/or changing, not forgetting coastal dynamics and bathymetry.
The ESA Best Practices “EO4Ports” aimed to identify pressing end-user needs across the port industry’s business processes, and understand how the current capabilities of EO can address these challenges. Bringing together port and EO experts, EO4Ports co-designed EO-based solutions that respond to the prioritised requirements identified. These were then tested in realistic conditions using ESA’s Application Propagation Environments (APEx) Geospatial Explorer, ensuring their scalability and interoperability.
Our host Tanya Walker (EARSC Market Development Officer) will be joined by Rainer Müller (Research Associate, Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics) and Christos Kontopoulos (Chief Technology Officer, GEOSYSTEMS HELLAS) to explore the various needs and challenges of ports, how port actors are currently using EO and any barriers to integrating EO into port-related workflows. They will also be joined by Patrick Griffiths (EO Data Engineer, European Space Agency) who will provide a short introduction to the ESA APEx, which will be explored in more depth in the following EOcafe on 21 May.
Some questions that could be addressed during this EOcafe include:
- What are the key components and actors of port ecosystems? How do they work, and what are the main operational and environmental challenges that ports face?
- How can EO-based technologies and solutions support ports in addressing these needs and tackling these challenges?
- Are there any areas where EO could support but other technologies/monitoring systems are still used? What are the barriers to integrating EO into workflows of port-related actors?
- What main EO solutions did the EO4Ports identify? Are there any successful EO applications already developed/deployed? What was a good example or best practice?
- What is the ESA APEx? How has the EO4Ports project used it in the EO4Ports context?
- What measures/actions could be implemented to support the EO industry sector in interacting more effectively with, and better supporting, the ports sector?
Please note this is a virtual event!
EOcafe is part of a series of EARSC meetings that offer timely, relevant, and practical information on a broad variety of topics related to the EO sector. Join us every month to discuss and network while enjoying a cup of coffee with friends.
IMPORTANT NOTES!!!
- The use of a video camera is not mandatory but is encouraged to facilitate better interaction between the attendees and the guest speaker(s).
- The EOcafe will stay open after 17:00 in case our guests want to continue the discussion.
- By registering for this event, you accept the terms and conditions (https://earsc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/EARSC_Events_GDPR.pdf).
If you have any questions, and/or you want to know more about the EOcafe, and/or you want to share an idea about a future EOcafe, please contact Tanya Walker (tanya.walker@earsc.org).
