The Cadiz Port Authority obtains the ISO 14001 certificate for environmental management

The UNE-EN ISO 14001 standard is a management tool for companies and organizations of all kinds that allows to systematize the environmental aspects generated in each of the activities carried out in the organization, in addition to promoting environmental protection and pollution prevention from a point of view of balance with the socio-economic aspects.

The president of the Port Authority of the Bay of Cadiz, Teófila Martínez, has received today from the hands of the general director of the certifying company OCA GLOBAL, David Lao, the certificate that attests the commitment of the port organization with the sustainability and the preservation of the environment.

In this sense, Teófila Martínez emphasized that environmental sustainability, together with digitalization and innovation, is part of the strategic commitment of the Port Authority to ensure the future competitiveness of the Port of the Bay of Cadiz, in line, moreover, with the strategic framework defined by the port system of general state interest.

As explained by the president of the port, "the actions in terms of sustainability are addressed from two areas. On the one hand, the improvement of infrastructures and the adoption of operational measures that result in the reduction of the environmental impact of port activity and, on the other hand, the use of innovation in the service of sustainability".

In this way, the APBC has invested in recent years in the installation of anti-pollution screens in the dock of La Cabezuela-Puerto Real to minimize the impact of the operation with solid bulk, completed with other measures such as tree screens and emission control systems, the implementation of an environmental management system, water spray cannons, paving of the environment, sweepers with suction, wheel washers, vegetable screens, ecological hoppers, manual of good practices.

The environmental certification is also added to other innovative measures such as the electrification of the docks through the OPS system, the installation of up to three photovoltaic plants in different administrative buildings of the Port Authority to generate electricity in a sustainable way and the implementation of four emission measurement stations, three of them located in the surroundings of the dock of La Cabezuela-Puerto Real and one in Cadiz. The results of two of them have been continuously contrasted for a year and a half with the results of the control stations of the Junta de Andalucía, while the monitoring of the four stations is carried out with the collaboration of the Environmental Quality Chair of the University of Huelva.

These stations, which measure PM2.5 and PM10, as well as AQI, NO2 and O3, constantly show positive indexes, with data in the lowest range of values, which corresponds to good air quality, according to the European classification.

"With this basic approach, we plan, design and execute the investments of the Port of the Bay of Cadiz, from the conviction that, no longer the future, but the present, is either sustainable, or it is not," stressed the president of the port.

The general manager of OCA Global, for his part, specified that "to comply with the certification audit process, the Port Authority has had to demonstrate a commitment from senior management in the form of an environmental policy, environmental objectives to reduce its significant and non-significant environmental aspects that have a negative impact on the environment, allocation of resources to make this possible, environmental risk analysis, consideration of the life cycle of its services (from the acquisition of raw materials or their generation from natural resources to their final disposal), a monitoring and measurement of key processes, own internal audit processes, environmental coordination with stakeholders including companies that provide their activity in the Port, etc. "

In fact, the standard is based on the continuous improvement model "plan-do-check-act", therefore, they explain from OCA Global, "it goes beyond meeting legal and/or regulatory requirements through a system for improving the environmental performance of organizations with respect to the environmental impact resulting from their activity".

With this certification, the Port Authority demonstrates its commitment to sustainability from the conviction that it is only possible by respecting the natural ecosystems and the quality of the environment and betting on innovation as an element of competitiveness and promotion of economic and social progress.