Final Conference of the POWER4MED Project on the Green Shipping Energy Transition

Based on the press release from the Algerian Press Service

Oran, Algeria-3 July 2025

The 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 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.

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 institutionsas part of the project to provide technical, financial and regulatory support to maritime operators wishing to make the transition.

The structure relies on a multidisciplinary team of experts, as well as a set of practical capacity-building tools that have already been tested with pilot players, he added. In the same context, two new strategic projects are due to be launched on Thursday (5 July 2025) at the USTO: GREENMEDPORT and SHARE4MED, funded by the INTERREG NEXT MED programme.

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

Finally Samir Bachouche (WestMED National Hub Algeria), presented 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.

 

For more information about this event, check the announcement page

For more information on about the project, visit the Power4Med webpage on the sdg4med website