Voting is ongoing for a major sustainability award to be announced in September, with 18 ports across the world in the running.
Three African ports authorities have been named among 18 finalists for the 2025 International Association of Ports and Harbours’ (IAPH) Sustainability Awards, after building sustainable practices and improving workers welfare.
The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) and Benin’s Port Autonome de Cotonou were shortlisted for a mangrove restoration program, an investing in people program and improving working and living conditions for dock workers, respectively.
Voting is ongoing on sustainableworldports.org/iaph2025-sustainability-awards website, ahead of the September 05, 2025 deadline, with 18 ports across the world under six categories vying for final recognition.
“All of the votes counted will make up 30% of the final score for each finalist project, so your votes count,” IAPH said in a statement.
According to award organizers, KPA was shortlisted for leading a mangrove restoration project in coastal Kwale County, with the initiative aligning with KPA’s vision of sustainable port operations and conservation of marine biodiversity.
Under the project, the Pongwe-Kidimu Community Forest Association (CFA), a local community with a membership of 825 people, in collaboration with KPA is restoring 500 acres of degraded mangroves near Shimoni.
“This is one of the initiatives that KPA has prioritized through the Green Port policy, to ensure sustainable port operations and conservation of the environment and marine biodiversity,” said IAPH.
Since KPA’s involvement in 2023, over 10,000 mangroves have been planted with an 80% survival rate, boosting resilience and biodiversity.
KPA was shortlisted under the environmental care category alongside Partnership of 40 ports in Europe’s environmental Port Index (EPI) and Port of Vigo’s nature ports programs.
Similarly, GPHA was recognized for embedded Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a strategic pillar of its mandate, “guided by the belief that thriving ports must coexist with thriving communities.”
GPHA has consistently and heavily invested in communities across multiple regions in Ghana, particularly in under-resourced and rural areas, with its CSR strategy built on three key pillars: Education, Health and Community and Environmental Development.
GPHA supports learning, research, and digital literacy, promotes well-being through improved healthcare infrastructure, access to clean water and advances local engagement in environmental conservation through sports, green initiatives and other community-driven projects.
Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority will battle Port of Barcelona and Ulsan Port Authority under the community building category.
Meanwhile, Benin’s Port Autonome de Cotonou landed on the shortlist for sustainably transforming the working and living conditions of dock workers in the West African republic.
The strategy centralizes hiring and guarantees formal employment, social security, appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs), and access to professional training.
Port Autonome de Cotonou is battling the Busan Port Authority and Port of Los Angeles under the health, safety and security category.