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MedCruise attended the 9th 'Our Ocean Conference' held yesterday, April 16th, 2024, in Athens, which celebrated excellence in maritime sustainability through the 'Blue Ports and Destinations' Awards ceremony, which honoured four exemplary ports.

Organised by BlueMissionMed in collaboration with MedCruise and with the support of the European Commission, the main objective of the Awards was to recognize, promote and support the best practices within the industry of ports and shipping, highlighting the significant contributions of ports towards the EU Mission 'Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030'.

The role of MedCruise also encompassed collaboration with other associations like Cruise Europe and CLIA in dissemination efforts, aiming to broaden participation of ports and destinations in the Awards and extend their reach beyond the Mediterranean region.

Identifying outstanding achievements across different categories, among many participants from different regions in the Mediterranean and northern Europe, the ceremony announced the 4 winners and 3 were MedCruise ports members: Port of Ravenna (Italy), for its visionary strategies driving the city's green transition in the category of Social, Corporate Sustainability, Community & Port Connectivity category; Port of Heraklion (Greece) and Galataport Istanbul (Turkey) jointly honoured for their unwavering dedication and innovative initiatives fostering sustainable practices within the maritime sector in the Eco-Conscious Entrepreneur & Personality category.

In the Building, Design, Construction, or Technical Sustainability Solutions category, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges (Belgium) was acknowledged for its constant commitment to sustainability across all operational elements.

Figen Ayan, President of MedCruise, served as the Chair of the 'Blue Ports & Destinations' Awards, setting another example of MedCruise's long commitment to sustainability and the advancement of a thriving blue cruise industry. Ayan added "The Blue Ports and Destination Award has been an excellent platform and milestone to highlight the great sustainable and environmental efforts of the ports but also the industry to meet the 2030 targets at the EU level. We need to continue this path with our concrete actions and our strong sense of collaboration".

The Conference featured the Mission Ocean side event organised by the European Commission, the Environmental Defence Fund and BlueMissionMed project entitled 'Concrete solutions for our greatest challenges: Mission Restore our Oceans and Waters by 2030'.

The innovative initiatives and actions under the EU Mission were highlighted: 'Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030' that address some of the greatest challenges faced by marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity.

It also showed the growing partnerships between different foundations and the philanthropic community. This event emphasized the importance of developing further the coordination between public and private funding to facilitate the restoration of islands worldwide.