Three finalists in six categories have qualified for the voting stage, which is likely to prove more decisive than ever
IAPH is delighted to announce the finalists in the six areas of interest of its World Ports Sustainability Program (WPSP) for the 2026 Sustainability Awards competition. The following eighteen shortlisted projects have been selected by the appointed independent expert jury.
Public voting online is now open
These outstanding projects have been chosen from a list of 66 eligible entries by an expert jury, who have scored them based on the agreed evaluation criteria. All projects have been added to the publicly-available projects database on the WPSP portal.
The IAPH World Ports Sustainability Program (WPSP) now contains close to 600 best practices covering all seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals.
IAPH Technical Director and WPSP coordinator Antonis Michail commented: “The quality of this year's submissions has been outstanding and the work of our jury to identify the 18 finalists was more challenging than ever. The jury evaluation of the shortlisted projects is very close in most categories. The public vote can make all the difference this year."
In order to take part in the public vote, people have the chance to review the details of all the projects before submitting their choice for each category. The outcome of the public vote (30%), together with that of the jury evaluation (70%) will co-determine the winners of the Awards.
The voting will remain open until midnight Central European Summer Time (CEST) on Friday 2 October, giving everyone a month to make their choices and to verify their choices online. A seventh prize, the Akiyama Award, will go to the highest-placed IAPH Sustainability Awards finalist runner-up from a Least Developed Country, or a Small Island Developing State.
The final winners will be announced at the gala dinner of the World Ports Conference in London on 4 November.
An expert jury returns for the #IAPH2026 Sustainability Awards
Fifteen expert judges were appointed to score the projects. These include (in alphabetical order, left to right, top to bottom):
Mark Assaf - Chief TrainForTrade - UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Sandra Chiri - International Outreach Manager - Shipping Emissions Ocean Conservancy
Sanjam Gupta - Director - Sitara Shipping Pvt. Ltd and Executive Board member, WMU
Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D. - Professor of Practice - USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California
Eranda Kotelawala - Maritime Processes Re-engineering Consultant and former IAPH regional VP for Southeast Asia and Oceania
Felicity Landon - Freelance Journalist and regular contributor to Ports & Harbors
Wei Jie Lau - Director, Partnerships - Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD)
Professor Maximo Q. Mejia Jr - President, World Maritime University (WMU)
Gerald Munjanganja - Commercial Manager - Seatrade Chartering B.V.
Namrata Nadkarni - Founder and CEO - Intent Communications and former editor, Ports & Harbors
Vilosh Naido - Sector Specialist, Transport Infrastructure - Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA)
Ines Nastali - Maritime Expert and former editor, Ports & Harbors
Thanos Pallis - Professor in port and maritime economics and policy, Department of Port Management and Shipping - University of Piraeus
Katharine Palmer - Shipping Lead - UN Climate Champions team and Global Head of Sustainability, Lloyd's Register
Gordon Wilmsmeier - Director Center for Shipping and Global Logistics (CSGL) - Kühne Logistics University
IAPH Managing Director Patrick Verhoeven commented: “We would like to extend our warmest thanks to the expert jury members, who make such an important contribution to our annual awards scheme. The competition continues to grow in number of entries, diversity and above all, quality. We wish all the finalists the very best and look forward to announcing the winners at the Gala Awards dinner of the World Ports Conference on 4 of November in London."
To vote for your own selection (one person, one vote) visit: https://sustainableworldports.org/iaph2026-sustainability-awards/
About IAPH
Founded in 1955, the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) has developed into a global alliance of 192 port authorities as well as 168 port-related businesses. Comprised of over 80 different nationalities across the world’s continents, member ports handle over one third of the world’s sea-borne trade and well over 60% of the world container traffic. IAPH leads global port industry initiatives on decarbonisation and energy transition, risk and resilience management, and accelerating digitalisation in the maritime transport chain. The IAPH’s World Ports Sustainability Program has grown into the reference database of best practices of ports applying the UN Sustainable Development Goals and integrating them into their businesses - iaphworldports.org.
Contact for the news release:
Nick Blackmore, Content Strategy and Events Director
email: nick.blackmore@iaphworldports.org
Contact for enquiries about the World Ports Sustainability Program:
Antonis Michail, IAPH technical director and WPSP coordinator
email: antonis.michail@iaphworldports.org
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