Closing of the POWER4MED Project & Launch of GREENMEDPORT & SHARE4MED projects: A New Milestone Toward Carbon Neutrality in the Mediterranean Maritime Sector

Based on the press release from the Algerian Press Service

Oran, Algeria-3 July 2025

The WestMED supported POWER4MED project, designed to support the energy transition of small ports and ships in the western Mediterranean, officially came to an end on Wednesday in Oran, at an international conference attended by researchers, decision-makers and economic operators from the maritime sector.

Financed by the European EMFAF Fund, and as part of the WESTMED initiative, the POWER4MED project (Local empowerment of fuel transition for a green Mediterranean) was launched in November 2023 for a period of 20 months, said Professor Beladjine Boumedienne, a research lecturer in the maritime engineering department at the Mohamed Boudiaf University of Science and Technology in Oran (USTO-MB), a partner in the project, who oversaw the organisation of this event at its opening.

The project, that lasted 18 months (November 2023-april 2025) was carried out by a consortium of partners from six Mediterranean countries, namely Algeria, Italy, Egypt, Spain, Libya and Turkey, he added. The project aims to support the transition to clean fuels and sustainable energy technologies for small vessels, in particular fishing boats and local ferries, as well as for marinas and secondary ports, said the representative of the Italian Ministry of Transport, Piero Pineli, in his speech at the opening.

POWER4MED Support Structure: A Governance and Energy Transition Model
Professor Mohamed Smaïl, from the English University in Cairo, who presented the project’s recommendations, pointed out that a virtual support structure, was jointly set up and piloted by Italian, Algerian and Egyptian institutions as part of the project to provide technical, financial and regulatory support to maritime operators wishing to make the transition.

It provides a multidisciplinary support team and technical tools to assist fishing boat and ferry operators, as well as marina managers, in adopting low-carbon fuels in the short term and in charting pathways toward carbon neutrality by 2050

The structure relies on a multidisciplinary team of experts, as well as a set of practical capacity-building tools that have been tested with pilot players.

Core funtions of the support structure:

Analyzing needs and availability of affordable alternative fuels.
Developing toolkits to align with EU legislation and IMO decarbonization strategies.
Facilitating knowledge transfer through training workshops and field visits to marine labs and simulators

Samir Bachouche (WestMED National Hub Algeria), ended the day with an overview of the WestMED Initiative and how the Assistance Mechanism can help other projects who are looking to start or scale up – with possible additional project partners and/ or ways to look for possible funding opportunities. He also pointed to the upcoming WestMED Stakeholder Conference on November 28 in Tunis and the possibility to submit blue projects for the WestMED Project Awards 2025 for extra recognition.

Parallel Event: The Algerian-Italian Maritime Cooperation Forum

A major highlight was the Algerian-Italian Maritime Cooperation Forum, which focused on port digitalization, integrated supply chains, alternative fuels (green hydrogen, LNG, methanol), and carbon footprint tracking for fishing and cargo vessels. The forum aims to strengthen cross-border value chains and attract private investments to support the blue economy.

Transition to a New Project Generation: Launch of GREENMEDPORT & SHARE4MED

Two new strategic projects were launched the next day ,on 5 July 2025: GREENMEDPORT and SHARE4MED, funded by the INTERREG NEXT MED programme. Each initiative is expected to run until 2027 with a budget of approximately €1 million and an EU co-financing rate of 89%

The aim of these new programmes is to strengthen cross-border cooperation in port digitalisation, fleet energy conversion and green maritime regulation and logistics. Specifically:

GREENMEDPORT: