The Port of Tarragona is among the eleven European ports competing for the ESPO 2026 Award, the distinction that the European Sea Ports Organization grants each year to projects that promote integration between ports and cities. The ESPO secretariat has received eleven nominations for this eighteenth edition of the award, which this year has the theme "Port projects of dual use with the city".
The award distinguishes projects that develop port infrastructures and spaces in such a way that they continue to fulfill their main port function, while allowing part of those spaces to be used by the city, either simultaneously or for different uses, thus bringing the activities of the port and the city closer together.
The eleven nominations for this edition, in alphabetical order by country, are: Niedersachsen Ports and the city of Cuxhaven (Germany); the Port Authority of Piraeus (Greece); the Port of Reykjavik (Iceland); Dublin Port Company (Ireland); the Port of Cork (Ireland); the North Adriatic Port Authority (Italy); the Port of Klaipeda (Lithuania); the Port of Gdansk (Poland); the Port of Gdynia (Poland); the Port of Tarragona (Spain); and Belfast Harbour (United Kingdom, Northern Ireland).
The winning port is chosen by an independent jury of international experts, chaired by Eamonn O'Reilly, former president of ESPO.
O'Reilly explains that the ESPO Award was created in 2009 to promote social integration between ports and cities, and that the theme chosen for this edition gives ports the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to that integration in practical terms. According to the jury president, if ports are serious in their commitment to the city, they can be expected to develop port lands and infrastructures both in the interest of cargo and for the direct benefit of local port communities. He adds that the number and quality of this year's nominations demonstrate that commitment, and highlight how central the need for ports to work actively in favor of their closest stakeholders is in the port development plans and strategies across Europe.
The jury president adds: "Addressing the needs of the local neighborhood requires innovation and conviction, so that ports, while continuing to fulfill their essential functions, reverse the trend of recent decades, in which many forgot their origins and distanced themselves from the communities that founded them and to which they serve."
The announcement of the award will be made during the ceremony and dinner for the ESPO Award, scheduled for November 10 at the Vanhaerents Art Collection in Brussels. The painting for the ESPO 2026 Award will be part of a series created exclusively for ESPO by Dutch painter Sasja Hagens.
ESPO established this award in 2009 under the name of Award for Social Integration of Ports, with the aim of raising awareness of the efforts of European ports to improve the relationship between ports and cities through innovative projects. This year's edition, the eighteenth since its inception, focuses on the shared uses of port space between both parties.
