MARITIME

throughput to 6 million TEUs by 2030,
and while the VOOPS project is the star
of that effort, NAPA ports like Trieste,
Rijeka, and Koper are planning, or have
already started, major port infrastructure
projects.
It’s possible that the biggest impact
VOOPS makes isn’t just in Venice, or
the Northern Adriatic, but on how governments
think about ports and their relationships
to cities.
The advantages of offshore ports in a
variety of areas, including environmental,
volume and security, have long been
recognized. Cargill launched an offshore
port off the coast of Jamnagar, India in
1998 and Abu Dhabi opened its Khalifa
Port, an artificial island, in 2012. But
VOOPS might be the model for the offshore
ports of the future. The project was
shortlisted for the 2014 OECD International
Transport Forum’s “Innovation in
Transport Award” and received a special
mention for its “replicability around the
world.”
That replication might happen soon.
Experts have cited the U.S. and Africa
as key markets that would be best served
by offshore ports. The U.S. government
is investigating offshore port concepts
through its Portinus project at the Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL). And Bechtel said earlier this
year that it is in discussions with U.S.
government agencies about the development
of an offshore port on the East
Coast.
The Onshore Area.
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SCHOTTEL, Inc.
1741 Denley Road
Houma, LA 70363
Tel. 985 346 8302
Fax: 985 223 9111
www.schottel.com
STT
SRT
www.marinelink.com 35