Page 50 - European Energy Innovation - Winter 2016 publication
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50  Winter 2016 European Energy Innovation

    COMMUNICATION

the UK, Denmark or Norway. But there         technologies for the monitoring of the      international recognition. UNESCO
are also Belgian operators: Geosea           sea level as well as the hydraulic and      has also established its project office
and OWA (Offshore Wind Assistance)           underwater constructions on shore           for the International Oceanographic
are represented. And GEOxyz, which           and at sea. The project “the Vlaamse        Data & Information Change (IODE)
specialises in high technological            Baaien” has provided a positive             at the port. Close relationships with
underwater surveys and crew transfer,        input towards opening the door for          industry have been established. In
have based their fleet of 17 ships at        developing new technologies in this         2010, the port of Oostende was one
the port in order to safeguard the           field. Also, the port is investigating the  of the founding fathers of the Flanders
maintenance and fleet management.            possibility of establishing temporary       Maritime Cluster (FMC), an interest
Next to GEOxyz, Survitec has opened          and permanent test facilities in close      group for all industries active in and
a new premise to secure the safety and       cooperation with the marine and             around the sea. It has its offices in the
security on board the vessels.               maritime industry. Moreover, the wind       port house in Oostende. And recently,
                                             parks offer an opportunity for the          the Belgian Offshore Cluster (BOC) has
In order to support this activity, the port  offshore aquaculture to establish new       been established, gathering different
of Oostende will invest in additional        projects in cooperation with the wind       industrial players in the offshore wind
efficient mooring infrastructure, as well    park managers within the framework          sector: they have organized the second
as a performing IT-systems to secure         of marine spatial planning. In this         edition of the Belgian Offshore days
efficient communication with the port        spatial plan, there is also room for        at the port of Oostende in April 2016
users and the nautical authorities.          the exploitation and management of          and were present as a cluster at Wind
More land will be made available for         the seabed, the promotion of marine         Energy Hamburg in September 2016.
a ship-building company that wants           biotechnology, the cultivation of algae,    They play an important role, especially
to provide innovative solutions for          in full respect of the eco-system of the    as the Flemish government in Brussels
developing more efficient vessels            North Sea.                                  still has not discovered the added
and satisfy the needs of the wind park                                                   value of this blue industry. Finally, the
operators.                                   In order to realize these ambitions         port is investigating opportunities
                                             and targets, the port of Oostende is        for cooperation with the airport of
BLUE GROWTH AT THE PORT                      working in close cooperation with           Oostende-Brugge, for crew transfer
OF OOSTENDE: A PERMANENT                     different organizations and institutions    and cargo supply.
CHALLENGE.                                   that have established themselves
The construction and maintenance             at the port. An important partner           CONCLUSION
of the offshore wind parks represent         in these developments is the POM            The port of Oostende is a traditional
the most important parts of the Blue         (Regional Development Agency) of            port: general cargos, cruises, roll-on-
Growth development at the port of            West-Vlaanderen, which launched “the        roll off, fisheries, bulk are core activities
Oostende. Apart from wind energy, the        Factory of the future Blue Energy” in       within the port of Oostende and they
port is also considering other sources       2012, to support the clustering and         are taken care of. New projects are
of blue energy: together with Marintek,      branding of the marine and offshore         established in the inner port within the
Sintef, Highlands & Islands Enterprise,      industry in coastal regions. A joint        field of circular economy, fine chemicals
the universities of Aalborg and Brindisi,    venture has been set up with the            (SEVESO-site) and the improvement
an analysis has been made of the role        University of Gent which has resulted       of the facilities for inland navigation.
that small and medium-seized ports can       in the building of the Greenbridge          Somehow, the port of Oostende has
play in the development of wave and          incubator centre in the inner port,         decided some years ago to diversify
tidal energy (www.beppoproject.eu).          hosting start-ups and companies,            the economic activities: the strategic
The port also actively supports several      finding their way in renewable energy       choice for the blue growth and the
practical projects from experimental         and blue growth. Other knowledge            investments in the development of
development up to full scale testing.        centers that have established their         the blue industry, have given the port
The wave projects Flansea and                headquarters are ILVO and VLIZ .            of Oostende a new important pillar to
Laminaria, that have been testing in         ILVO is the Flemish institute for the       guarantee its viability as a small and
and around the breakwaters of the port,      research in fisheries and agriculture,      medium-sized port in the North Sea. l
are excellent examples.                      which investigates new technologies
                                             for fishing and the management of             Contact details:
In addition to the production of the         fish stocks in the North Sea. VLIZ
energy at sea, other opportunities           is the Flemish institute for the Sea          Wim Stubbe
can be realized within the the Blue          and functions as a coordination- and          Business Development Manager
Growth strategy. As a result of current      information-platform for all scientific       AG Haven Oostende
climate conditions, the North Sea is         marine and maritime research in               Email: wim.stubbe@portofoostende.be
facing a rising of sea level. In order to    Flanders. It has its own research vessel,     Tel: +32 487 548 768
cope with this challenge it is important     the Simon Stevin, and has built its           Website: www.portofoostende.be
to develop new techniques and                own data-center which has gained

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