In the celebration held 25/9/2018 at the Port of Alexandria commemorating  the World Maritime Day 2018 under the theme “IMO 70 Our Heritage – Better Shipping  for a Better Future ” Damietta Port won the award of the best Egyptian commercial port in the field of  marine environment protection for this year.

Rear Admiral / Ayman Saleh, Chairman of Damietta Port Authority (DPA) received the trophy and awarding certificate .While the Maritime Person of the Year Award went to Rear Admiral / Tarek Ghanem, Maritime Transport Affairs advisor  to the Ministry of Transport .

The celebration was attended by Dr. Hisham Arafat, Minister of Transport, Commander of the Naval Forces, Commander of the Northern Military Region, President of the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Vice President of the Economic Zone, as well as members of the diplomatic corps, ambassadors of foreign countries, public figures and Members of the Parliament And maritime transport leaders.

In this context Rear Admiral Saleh underlined that this award comes as a result  of DPA  efforts to strictly follow global standards set for clean trading ,handling  of various types of goods by using appropriate marine pollution prevention techniques.

He confirmed  marine pollution control drills are regularly held  at Damietta Port to identify the best approaches to deal with various types of pollutants.

“Add this  to the readiness of the port by means of domestic pollution control after obtaining the ISO 14001 certificate to maintain a clean work environment”. Admiral Saleh added. This ISO certificate is periodically reviewed by the Lloyd’s Register ; the certification authority.

The port also applies the OPS system (a technique used for the first time in the Egyptian ports to supply berthing ships with electric power  instead of relying on ship’s own engines) with a view to protect the marine environment from pollution.