The AEO certifications allow BEST’s customers to streamline paperwork, go through fewer physical and document-based Customs control points, and receive priority treatment at control and inspection points as well as advanced notice if their goods require a physical inspection. Jorge Moreno, BEST’s Head of Commercial, said that “obtaining these double certifications of the AEO allows the company to add value and quality to its customer service. The AEO status signifies to customers that BEST is a safe and reliable operator across the European Union. In future, such Customs simplifications will extend globally with the mechanism of mutual recognition”

Barcelona Europe South Terminal (BEST) is the first semi-automated terminal of Hutchison Port Holdings Limited (HPH) and the most technologically advanced port development project in Spain. It is capable of serving multiple mega-vessels simultaneously and has an eight-track railway facility, the biggest on-dock railway terminal of any port in the Mediterranean connecting it to traffic coming from, and destined for, Southern Europe.

The scheduled opening of the deepened and widened Suez Canal on 8th August is taking shape as a trial run have been announced.

Silvester said that the estimated costs of the project, estimated at more than USD11 million, will be split between the port and the Canadian government. The two shore power systems are expected to be operational by March 31, 2017.

This announcement “represents another positive step in ongoing work to reduce marine shipping emissions, work that has resulted in significant improvements in Metro Vancouver air quality,” said Silvester.

BC Hydro, of British Columbia, DP World, which operates Centerm, and Global Container Terminals, which manages Deltaport, collaborated in the project.

Vancouver was the first port in Canada to implement shore power for cruise ships and since 2009 over 11,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions have been avoided. Shore power reduces emissions by allowing vessels to turn off their diesel engines and draw power from the provincial electrical grid while in port.

“Bringing it to the container terminals will help the port reach targets under the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy, a collaboration with Tacoma and Seattle to reduce emissions in the shared Puget Sound-Georgia Basin airshed,” he added. “It will also reduce the noise levels for nearby residents.”