by Przemysław Myszka

The spring of 2023 has arrived after a somewhat longer winter (though fairly mild in north-central Poland). With it, too, came the start of the BTJ Trip season! At the end of April, I had the pleasure of visiting Sweden upon the invitation from the Port of Norrköping to see how they are developing to firmly shake hands with the future (coverage will come shortly). Nothing beats seeing with your own eyes what one's writing about behind the desk.

As it happens, the following weeks will be more than abounding with all sorts of travels: transport logistics in Munich (finally, after so, so many years!), our first BTJ Trip \ Finland (and, hopefully, not the last this year), and TOC Europe in Rotterdam. More will come after the summer, just to mention the Port of Ystad hosting this year's instalment of BPO's Baltic Ports Conference.

During these and other meetings, we will share and discuss our latest map idea, which currently goes under the production title of the Baltic Green Map. We intend to present on it the plethora of infrastructure & solutions offered by the region's players, who put them in place to make the Baltic more environmentally friendly, not least for exporting the green know-how.

For instance, if you're a seaport running your machinery on HVO, have electric cargo handling equipment, your own farm harvesting solar or wind energy, installed an automatic mooring system or an onshore power supply facility, or you're an energy company providing liquefied biogas or a firm or academia with tech for optimising shipping or port operations, or have an offshore wind farm, or are a shipping line with green tonnage, etc. - that is precisely what we will put the map's spotlight on. Also, it will indicate what's in the pipeline, say, an e-methanol or green hydrogen production facility that will cater to the transport industry's needs.

I reckon the Baltic Green Map will require loads of research, so it will probably be a thing of this year's autumn or winter. That said, if you would like to help us, please touch base and share your organisation's green credentials at bgm@baltic-press.com Most likely, the map will be supplemented with a 'Baltic Green Dictionary' to provide more details.

Other than that, I'm super glad to hand over yet another issue of our journal (though, like last year, we'll add the Report on the Baltic port market in 2022 later, all "thanks" to shambles in certain Baltic countries' national statistics... To brush away tears, the Baltic Port Map 2023 will be ready before long).

This edition is also quite green: there is a lot about environmental-social-governance (ESG) responsibility and the hows and whys of our industry approaching these in many ways still for them uncharted waters. Naturally, there are also pieces on future fuels (including one on ensuring green remains green from well to wake).

I also sat with Patrick Verhoeven from the International Association of Ports and Harbors to talk about the new port culture (ESG indeed forms a big chunk of it).

A read from Technology on data democratisation also ties to the ESG topic. At the same time, the column's other article shows how one walks the green talk owing to a modern digital solution (of course, made in the Baltic!).

Transport miscellany is all about butter and baking cakes. I am joking, manifestly; there are also entries on a unique (quite literally!) island locomotive and how rivers used to serve as airstrips (if you think about it, water is a cheaper infrastructure than concrete).

Have a flavourful read!

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