In 2017, the European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) launched its Code of Good Practices for Cruise and Ferry Ports. The code has been developed by ESPO together with Cruise Baltic, Cruise Europe, Cruise Norway, MedCruise and Cruise Britain, under the umbrella of the ESPO Cruise and Ferry Port Network.
The code formulates a series of good practices to face the main challenges of European cruise and ferry ports. The five main challenges identified are the port-city relationship, infrastructure, cooperation, relation with the cruise and ferry lines and security. Besides sharing these practices among port authorities, the code can also be seen as an instrument to enhance the dialogue with all stakeholders involved in the cruise and ferry sector. Moreover, this code informs policy makers and the wider public about the characteristics, challenges and bottom-up initiatives taken by European port authorities.
The code comes with a dynamic online inventory of concrete examples of the good practices outlined in the code. This inventory will be updated continuously to turn the code into a living document.