• Could you share your own story of the MAGPIE project, from the APS point of view? How it started, the successes or challenges you’ve encountered on the way?
From the Port of Sines’ perspective, the MAGPIE journey has been closely aligned with our broader ambition to evolve into a sustainable, digitally integrated, and energy-driven logistics hub. Our involvement began as part of a strategic effort to connect local priorities, such as decarbonisation, digitalisation, and stakeholder coordination, with European innovation frameworks. Over the past four years, we structured our participation around assessing and adapting MAGPIE solutions to our specific context, focusing particularly on non-technical mechanisms like green corridors, governance for shared digital spaces, and energy systems. This approach will allow us to integrate MAGPIE insights into ongoing initiatives such as the development of the Open Syllo, an Open Data Platform, and an Energy Matching System, reinforcing our role as a “community-manager port” and supporting our long-term goal of energy self-sufficiency.
Throughout this period, one of our main achievements has been the alignment between MAGPIE solutions and the Port of Sines’ strategic positioning as a future hub for green fuels and hydrogen-based value chains. High-relevance initiatives—such as green corridors and smart energy systems, have confirmed the port’s potential to act as a key exporter of renewable energy and to accelerate maritime decarbonisation. At the same time, there are challenges highlighting that technological readiness alone is not sufficient, robust governance, collaboration, and phased implementation are critical. Overall, MAGPIE has been providing not only a testing ground for innovative concepts but also a valuable learning platform, helping us translate strategic ambitions into concrete pathways for the port’s digital and energy transition.
• The fellow ports were expected to provide operational data and feedback throughout the project. Could you elaborate on a few concrete examples of your support during the project and its results for APS?
Throughout the MAGPIE project, APS – Port of Sines actively contributed by providing operational data, validation inputs, and continuous feedback to support the development and refinement of key tools. A concrete example is our involvement in the Energy Matching Tool, developed in close collaboration with partners such as EDP, where our role was to supply real operational and energy-consumption data from port activities. The original intent of this tool was to demonstrate how operational flexibility and the creation of a local energy market could accelerate port decarbonisation. For APS, the results were highly valuable: the tool showed the strong potential of integrating different stakeholders, terminals, warehouses, and industrial actors, into a coordinated port energy community, enabling more efficient use of locally generated renewable energy and reinforcing our long-term objective of energy self-sufficiency. This process also strengthened our internal capacity to understand energy flows, anticipate demand patterns, and design governance models for future implementation.
In parallel, APS supported the development and testing of the Emissions Mapping Tool, in close collaboration with IFPEN, by sharing cargo-handling and operational datasets, which allowed for detailed emissions analysis across port activities. One of the most relevant outcomes was the creation of visual dashboards with specific KPIs, including hourly and daily CO₂ emissions, differentiation between refrigerated and non-refrigerated containers, and clear visualization of how seasonality, such as monthly variations in TEUs, affects emission levels. These insights proved particularly useful in identifying emission hotspots, notably at the liquid bulk terminal (driven mainly by vessel activity) and at the container terminal (where both ships and land-based equipment contribute). The ability to map emissions spatially and temporally provided APS with a much clearer, data-driven understanding of its carbon footprint, supporting more targeted mitigation strategies and reinforcing the role of digital tools in achieving a more sustainable and efficient port ecosystem.
• From your point of view, what are the key challenges in the implementation of the innovations developed in MAGPIE?
From the Port of Sines’ perspective, one of the key challenges in implementing MAGPIE innovations lies in establishing robust governance frameworks for data sharing and stakeholder coordination. Throughout the project, collaboration with partners required the exchange of operational and energy-related data, which highlighted recurring issues such as data ownership, interoperability between heterogeneous systems, and the need to ensure confidentiality and cybersecurity while still enabling meaningful analysis. While data sharing proved highly valuable, supporting tools like the Energy Matching and Emissions Mapping systems, it depended on building trust among stakeholders and aligning different technical standards and expectations. Beyond data, additional challenges include regulatory uncertainty, the complexity of coordinating multiple actors with different incentives, and the need for clear cost–benefit allocation models, all of which are critical to move from pilot solutions to large-scale, operational deployment of MAGPIE innovations.
• How do you think the outcomes of MAGPIE could activate sustainable development in your port? In other Portuguese ports?
From the Port of Sines’ perspective, the outcomes of the MAGPIE project have strong potential to activate sustainable development by providing tested, scalable solutions that directly support the port’s transition toward a low-carbon, energy-driven ecosystem. By demonstrating how to integrate green energy carriers, digital tools, and operational optimisation within a “living lab” environment, MAGPIE helps bridge the gap between energy supply and energy use in port logistics. These results align closely with APS’s Innovation Roadmap and the NEXUS Agenda, which positions Sines as a catalyst for the digital and green transition through the development of an integrated ecosystem combining renewable energy production, data platforms as the Open Syllo, and collaborative services. In particular, tools such as the Energy Matching and Smart Energy Systems solutions reinforce the feasibility of creating local energy communities and optimising renewable integration, accelerating the port’s ambition to become energy self-sufficient and a hub for hydrogen and green fuels.
At a national level, the transferability of MAGPIE outcomes can support other Portuguese ports by providing a validated framework—technical, operational, and governance-related—for implementing decarbonisation pathways. The combination of digital platforms (as promoted by NEXUS), renewable energy integration, and stakeholder-based governance models can be replicated to enhance efficiency, reduce emissions, and foster collaboration across port ecosystems. In this sense, MAGPIE does not only deliver individual innovations but contributes to a broader transformation model, enabling Portuguese ports to evolve into interconnected, data-driven, and energy-efficient logistics hubs aligned with European Green Deal objectives.
• As the MAGPIE project is entering its final year, what are your reflections on the evolving role of port authorities in the energy transition? How can they ensure that the lessons and tools developed by MAGPIE are implemented and scaled? (e.g. Submission of a Masterplan on Smart Green Port of the future to the European Commission; policy advice for European ports).
As the MAGPIE project enters its final months, port authorities are increasingly evolving from traditional infrastructure managers into active orchestrators of the energy transition, acting as intermediaries that connect energy production, logistics operations, and a wide ecosystem of stakeholders. This shift reflects a broader European vision in which ports become multi-functional industrial and energy hubs, playing a central role in deploying clean energy, enabling green transport corridors, and coordinating complex value chains. In this context, initiatives such as the MAGPIE Masterplan are critical, as they translate pilot results into structured roadmaps, governance models, and recommendations that can guide ports toward 2050 decarbonisation targets. To ensure implementation and scaling, port authorities like APS must embed these lessons into their strategic plans, ensuring that tested innovations evolve from pilot environments into fully deployed, interoperable solutions across the port sector.
