Marmari Port – Evia Island

The main maritime connection between South Evia Island and mainland Greece is served by ferries that runs the sea route from Marmari village to Rafina and transport high and continuously increasing volume of goods and passengers. This increase has led to the “saturation” of the land area of the existing port facilities of Marmari and to enhance other important functional problems.

The need to expand, improve and in general upgrade the facilities, led the former Harbor Treasury of Marmari Port to contract, after holding a contest, the consultant engineer Albert Paul Yamin the design of the required marine works. These included the use of the existing quay walls for the berthing of fishing and touristic boats and the design of a new port, in the south part of the basin, in order to serve the transportation of goods and passengers. The main reasons for transferring the commercial and passenger activities were to decongest the road network of the village and to upgrade the coastal front both environmentally and aesthetically.

Along with the port design, the former Harbor Treasury of Marmari Port contracted CNWAY the preparation of the Environmental Impact Study of the proposed works that belong to the class A2, according to the new environmental legislation frame (4014/2012). Its object was the examination of the effects of construction and operation of the new port facilities in key environmental parameters that form the natural and human environment and the proposal of actions so as to address the negative impacts on it.

Study facts:

• As a part of the necessary research, it was noted that Marmari village is not included among protected areas of the Natura2000 network and there are no archeological sites nor in the sea neither in the land area of the new facilities. In addition, the port design is in harmony with the regional and urban planning. These conditions facilitated the public advisory services and overall environmental permitting of the project.
• The proposed measures to manage the negative impacts on the environment were:
- Controlling and managing of materials, equipment and machinery to reduce emissions of air pollutants during the construction of the new works
- The diversion of additional traffic load that is generated by the new port facilities, from the local network using the new connective 150 m long road
- Implement an emergency plan to confront possible sea water pollution from oil and hazardous waste
- Implement a plan for preventing possible accidents during construction as well as during operation of the infrastructure
• Preparation of the Environmental Management Plan for the port, based on the International Standard EN ISO14001 and the EU EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme)