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Along with recent fundamental changes in several aspects of the port industry, ports come up against formidable environmental challenges. It is thus important and often imperative to mainstream environmental concerns in their operation, planning, and development; improve their environmental performance; and make the transition to sustainable production and consumption patterns. The industry’s greening is largely underpinned by European Union (EU) transport and port policy, with major European initiatives such as the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), the European Green Deal, and Blue Growth expected to give new impetus. This paper examines environmental mainstreaming in Greek TEN-T ports and their ability to cope with upcoming challenges based on questionnaire responses by 23 port authorities and taking into account the relevant progress made by ESPO port members. We argue that all respondents have gradually become aware of the need to move towards an environment-friendly operation and development, but progress is slow, and there is still a lot to be done. Performances vary and depend on different factors, while ports are faced with significant challenges and various constraints. Nevertheless, new environmental standards present a real opportunity for Greek ports to undertake deep structural changes, especially in view of current and future European port policy.

Amidst the ever increasing demand for the unhindered flow of freight throughout the world, seaport safety is emerging as a critical factor which increasingly dictates the need to establish a proactive approach towards addressing the associated risks rather than the traditional reactive response to port accidents. This paper proposes and presents a proactive methodology for port safety risk assessment (including the techno-economically effective prioritized control) which constitutes an adaptation of the FSA (Formal Safety Assessment) for ships. The ability of the proposed methodology to offer this standardized approach for PRA (Port Risk Assessment) is demonstrated through reference to the container terminal of the Greek Port of Thessalonica, for which an empirical study is contacted utilizing the historical record of encountered accidents with regard to their frequency of occurrence and their impact upon the human and environmental resources of the port.

Purpose – The concept was that municipal real estate was an asset which consisted of a combination of measurable and hard-to-estimate returns (including social benefits) rather than a public good. Many local government organizations attempted to capitalize and assess real estate, with a view to generating revenue for local authorities. Others proceeded to use direct private sector financing for the construction of municipal infrastructure, in exchange for the right to use public land for commercial development purposes. In Greece, the institutional framework for local government organizations prevented local government from playing an essential role, because of their limited powers and financial resources. There are two key questions coming up within this context, which are the main subject of the research: What are the financing instruments used by municipalities today? What are the financing instruments that municipalities would like to use today? No research has been done so far on the above questions at such sample level as used in the research, i.e. all the municipalities in the territory of Greece. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents the literature review of the property management and the methodology of an empirical research through structured questionnaire that was sent to the entire population of Greek municipalities. Findings – The main findings regard the financial instruments used by the Greek municipalities and funding schemes from various sources. Apart from these funding sources which Greek cities actually use, the present research has investigated the sources of funding that municipalities would like to use. Practical implications – The paper consists a detailed road map for practical public management. Originality/value – The questionnaire was sent to the entire population of Greek municipalities, characterized in this way with considerable heterogeneity. The sample equals the whole population, which has been investigated for the first time, regarding the Greek Paradigm.

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