Environment protection is an interdisciplinary task

Hanna Pötter of Eurogate answers four questions

1.Ms. Pötter, you have a staff function for environment management and environment technology at the port logistics company Eurogate. What key issues does your company pursue in matters of marine environment protection?

Eurogate regards environment friendly management as a sign of quality. Our aims are to achieve maximum efficiency, minimum emissions and long-term safety. In concrete terms, that means we will endeavour to reduce the consumption of energy and resources per container even further in future. The same applies to noise, light and pollutant emissions. To us, taking the subject of "long-term safety" seriously means more than just effective protection for our workforce and accident prevention. It also means ensuring that our actions are forward-looking and far-sighted. For instance, Eurogate invests large amounts in the research and development of innovative, environment friendly technologies and processes every year.

2.So what does the ordinary working day of an Environmental Officer look like?

Environment protection is an interdisciplinary task. The success of our strategy depends on the cooperation of every corporate division and every single employee. My job is to create the basis for that cooperation. This involves tasks such as compiling and evaluating all the environmentally relevant data, for instance the data required to calculate our carbon footprint. On the other hand, it also means questioning our existing policies and making specific proposals for more environmentally compatible management. This also includes investigating possible alternatives and, if possible, putting them into practice. Sometimes this refers to perfectly simple things, such as changing over to recycled paper and double-sided copying at the company, at others it means large-scale projects such as the introduction of environment management structures. Another important aspect is to communicate Eurogate's environmental achievements to date, not only to our own employees but also to the general public. As you can see, there is really no such thing as an "ordinary" working day for me.

3.Shipping, port and logistics have been badly hit by the negative effects of the global economic crisis. Have these current economic problems affected Eurogate's environmental commitment? Or to put it differently, has your company curbed its ecological activities during the crisis?

Yes and no. From the long-term point of view, preserving the environment is equivalent to preserving our economic capacity. The faster we use up our resources, the more difficult it will be to maintain economic success. It is the long-term character that is the tricky aspect. We have to make investments today – in new technologies, in process optimisation, in advanced staff training – if we are to preserve our economic basis far into the future. The economic crisis means that on the one hand, the financial resources needed to make investments have become scarcer. Moreover, the price of diesel has dropped sharply, which lowers the incentive to look for more economical technologies and behaviour patterns. On the other hand, the economic crisis has forced us to make more efficient use of resources. Handling a lower volume of containers means that we have more time and energy to turn our attention to questions of environment and quality management. It also gives us the time to investigate and try out new ideas which impact on our daily routine processes. An organisation that is permanently working at full capacity has no surplus energy to investigate potential changes in its operational processes and routines. It is far better to test such suggestions for improvement during a quieter phase, so that everything is up and running smoothly by the time container throughput picks up again. All of these factors have a beneficial effect on our environment activities.

4.The residents in the Bremerhaven district of Weddewarden have come to terms with the new Container Terminal. Nevertheless, they still sometimes complain about the noise emanating from the site. The port management company bremenports has equipped the houses and flats of neighbouring residents with top quality soundproof windows. What are operating companies like Eurogate and North Sea Terminal Bremerhaven doing to reduce the noise levels?

Over the last few years we have introduced a large number of technical and organisational measures to reduce noise and we continue to conduct ongoing investigations into this subject. In actual practice, this means:

• Before terminal construction begins, we prepare a noise forecast which influences the terminal layout. 
• When ordering new handling and transport equipment, we impose stringent requirements on the noise level when drawing up the specifications and check this during the equipment acceptance procedures.
• The noise abatement devices are checked during all equipment inspections and repaired if necessary.
• Our employees receive regular training in working as quietly as possible.
• We have a noise monitoring system in force at the Container Terminal which monitors incoming noise in Weddewarden.
• We conduct regular noise measurements of our handling and transport equipment to identify further potential for noise reduction.
• As part of the ISETEC research programme, we will systematically investigate alternative drive systems and other possible noise abatement measures.