The Port of Rotterdam Authority has presented Jan Fransen, Managing Director of the Green Award Foundation, with the Sleepanker award.
Fransen is stepping down after 32 years with the Green Award Foundation, 21 of them as managing director, as he reaches retirement age.
In the 1990s, Fransen developed a quality mark for vessels meeting the highest safety and environmental standards on behalf of the then Municipal Port Management of Rotterdam.
That quality mark grew into Green Award, an internationally recognised certification programme for sustainable and safe shipping.
Since 1994, Port of Rotterdam Authority has rewarded vessels holding a Green Award certificate with discounts on port dues, a scheme that now covers hundreds of seagoing vessels worldwide, with ports, governments and companies collaborating within the Green Award network.
In 2011, Fransen extended the quality mark to Dutch inland shipping; almost 1,500 inland vessels now hold a Green Award certificate.
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For port authorities weighing incentive-based approaches to vessel sustainability, the scheme stands as a long-running example of how certification tied to port fee discounts can be scaled across both seagoing and inland fleets.
The Sleepanker, presented by the Port of Rotterdam Authority since 2006, recognises individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to the port’s development.
Fransen received the award from Vivienne de Leeuw, Chief Financial Officer of Port of Rotterdam Authority, following an Industry Panel Discussion organised by the Green Award Foundation on 9 July to mark his retirement.
De Leeuw said: “Jan worked for many years to make the port of Rotterdam and the international maritime sector more sustainable, not because he had to, but because he truly believed in it. As a director, ambassador and source of inspiration, he showed that economic development and sustainability are not mutually exclusive, but actually reinforce each other. His efforts have had a lasting impact on the shipping sector and on the Port of Rotterdam.”
For more information:
Port of Rotterdam – https://www.portofrotterdam.com/en
