Creating smart ecosystems
SAFARI: Safe, climate resilient infrastructure
SAFARI is dedicated to developing a digital platform to enhance the resilience of port infrastructure, ensuring operational efficiency and safety during extreme weather events.
The vulnerabilities of European ports amidst climate risks
European ports play a crucial role in facilitating international trade, connecting regions, and contributing to economic growth and development. However, they are exposed to multiple risks and vulnerabilities that can impact their operations, functionality, and efficiency. Studies highlight that ports face mounting risks from rising sea levels, intense storms, and heatwaves. In severe cases, direct damages can make up a significant share of total economic losses, ranging from 10% to 40%, while disruptions may contribute to 20% to 60% of the economic impact, depending on their intensity and duration.
Whether through water scarcity, as seen during Panama's recent drought, or excess water from flooding, such as the UK's devastating floods in 2021, the impacts are far-reaching. The 2021 floods, for example, affected multiple river basins across Europe, including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Insured losses alone were estimated at €2.55 billion, with total damage costs exceeding €10 billion. In an interconnected world, these events are not confined to the regions they strike but ripple across economies and supply chains worldwide, leading to food shortages and possible job losses.
Building resilient port infrastructure through the SAFARI project
To solve the above problem, it is mandatory to develop a resilience plan that integrates operational, structural, institutional, and socio-economic measures to enhance the port's ability to withstand extreme weather events. The goal of the SAFARI’s project is to develop a generic digital platform for resilient port infrastructure, connected to large port communities, facing extreme weather events, with emergency management modules fed by operational, maintenance and analytical modules.
A comprehensive approach to climate-resilient port operations
The SAFARI project follows a systematic approach to enhance the resilience of European ports against extreme weather events. It begins with developing strategies to protect the port partners' infrastructure, personnel, and assets from the adverse impacts of extreme weather events. Following that, applicable approaches will be extracted to continue providing vital services under challenging conditions as preventative maintenance and health monitoring. Comprehensive risk assessments will also be developed to identify and categorize vulnerabilities and risks in pilot ports (Dunkirk, Seville, Lisbon) and related infrastructure. Structural measures, such as digital twins, drones for inspections, and 3D printing of flood barriers, will be deployed for predictive maintenance and proactive reinforcement. An advanced digital platform will be developed to integrate real-time data, optimize resource allocation, and enable adaptive port operations. The project also includes operational measures like emergency protocols, capacity optimization, and modal cargo shifts, while training programs will prepare personnel for climate-related disruptions.
Biodiversity and environmental considerations will be integrated into all phases, using nature-based solutions and sustainable practices. Finally, the SAFARI project prioritizes developing governance frameworks and resilience guidelines to support climate-resilient port operations. It begins by mapping stakeholders across port ecosystems, including authorities, operators, and communities, to identify roles and interdependencies. Governance structures will be established to outline decision-making processes and responsibilities, ensuring efficient collaboration among stakeholders during extreme weather events. The project will create resilience guidelines tailored to specific port profiles, addressing climate risks, legal statutes, and operational capacities. These guidelines will include risk management protocols, emergency response strategies, and long-term resilience plans aligned with international standards.
SAFARI’s impact on port authorities, operators, and ecosystem stakeholders
- Port Authorities will benefit from the SAFARI’s results by implementing the developed digital platform and tools to enhance the resilience of their port infrastructure.
- Port Operators as shipping lines and its terminal operator in ports and logistics provider will utilize the SAFARI's tools to optimize their operations during disruptions
- Infrastructure Maintenance Companies will use the SAFARI's results to implement targeted resilience measures for the river maintenance.
- Software Suppliers: Companies providing software solutions for port management and analysis will integrate the SAFARI's tools to provide clients with enhanced capabilities for assessing and managing resilience in the face of extreme weather events.
- Research and Academia: Academic institutions and researchers in fields related to climate resilience, infrastructure management, engineering, bio-diversity, business will use the SAFARI's findings and methodologies for further research and advancement of knowledge.
The implementation of the SAFARI project will allow to:
- Maintain the port operation at 80% of capacity during the disruption periods
- Optimize the allocation of multi-modal transport assets before and after the disrupting event to reach 20% of modal cargo shift with less environmental footprint and to minimize the downtime during extreme weather events;
- Develop resilience measures to strengthen existing port infrastructure against extreme weather events.
- Ensure the safety of personnel, vessels and protect the biodiversity;
- Build a governance model and guidelines to address climate risks and hazards for port infrastructure.
The SAFARI consortium aims to deploy new measures reaching a TRL 7 by the end of the project in different maritime and inland infrastructures of port partners, from North Sea, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, that can minimize the impacts of the disturbances issued from the extreme weather events.
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