Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA)

101 organisations and companies work together voluntarily, closely and consistently, so that, in this unprecedented period of transition for shipping, where the green and digital transformation is reshaping the sector, the people who will live through this change are placed at the centre and given priority. This is a voluntary partnership of rare scale for the Eastern Mediterranean, not only in terms of size, but also in terms of the quality of the projects, actions, impact and commitment of the organisations that make it up. The partnership has already activated a wider network of more than 250 maritime stakeholders from Greece, Cyprus and the entire Eastern Mediterranean.

METAVASEA's real innovation is social. It is a bottom-up model: instead of designing solutions for people, knowledge and tools are created together with those who will live through the change. Partner organisations co-design surveys, host pilot actions on ships and in ports, train and are trained, and share data and experience. And the endeavour is not only about people in shipping. Schoolchildren, teachers, young people and coastal communities sit at the same table, because the transition is not judged only on board ships. It is also judged in the ports where families live, in public opinion, which often misunderstands the role of shipping, and in the next generation, who will inherit the sea. A decarbonisation process that does not carry society with it is neither fair nor sustainable.

Participation is substantial across every action: already more than 2,500 participants in the survey, more than 2,800 trained seafarers and professionals from 18 nationalities, 7,500 students and more than 500 teachers, with the project's overall reach extending to more than 18 million people.

Shipping carries 90% of global trade and must drastically reduce its emissions. How it achieves this, without leaving anyone behind, is exactly the question METAVASEA answers through joint action. Coordinated by HELMEPA, the effort creates knowledge and tools together with those who live the change, helping them take an active part while reducing risks to health, safety and the environment.

– Seafarers (officers and crew) and staff of shipping companies

– Port authorities, port workers and providers/suppliers of maritime services

– Teachers, pupils, students of maritime academies and university students

– Civil society in coastal cities and ports of the Eastern Mediterranean

– Policy makers and the international shipping community

In METAVASEA, all these groups are not just “beneficiaries”, but co‑designers of the transition, with an active role in surveys, workshops and working groups that shape the content of trainings and tools. Young people, in particular, take part in educational activities and idea competitions on shipping and the environment, so that they can see themselves in the future of the green transition.

October 2023 – September 2028 (5 years)

METAVASEA is not a project with many participants; it is an alliance with a shared purpose. It brings around the same table 18 partners and dozens of organisations from shipping, ports, universities, training centres, professional associations, NGOs and civil society. This is a five-year initiative (2023–2028) created to place these people at the centre of the green and digital transition.

The shipping sector in the Eastern Mediterranean is a key part of the economy and everyday life in coastal cities. The discussion about the green transition usually focuses on technologies and regulations; in reality, however, the transition will be decided by the people who live and work with the sea and in maritime education: seafarers, port workers, company staff, teachers, students and local residents.

Coordinated by HELMEPA and supported by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, this alliance designs and implements actions based on cooperation, knowledge sharing and the empowerment of those who experience change in their daily work.

METAVASEA unfolds along five main strands:

– Research, through open surveys and fieldwork that capture the real experiences, needs and priorities of seafarers, dock workers, managers and educators.

– Training and re‑training, with targeted programmes for maritime and port professionals on new fuels, technologies, safety and risk management.

– Education and awareness‑raising, with tools and material for schools, maritime academies and universities, seminars for teachers, activities for young people and outreach initiatives in coastal cities and ports.

– Knowledge dissemination, through collective publications and participation in international meetings, so that the region’s experience feeds into the global debate on decarbonisation.

– Innovation, through pilot applications in ports and ships, such as emission monitoring systems and digital micro‑learning tools for professionals.

What makes METAVASEA stand out is the way collaboration is organised. Each partner brings different expertise – technical know‑how, research, education, connection with citizens, international networking – and these come together in joint working groups, pilot applications, co‑authoring of guidelines and educational material. Instead of top‑down messages, the alliance systematically listens to the experiences and needs of people working at sea and in ports, and builds programmes and tools together with them.

METAVASEA’s innovative character lies in treating the decarbonisation of shipping as an opportunity for cooperation, learning and improving everyday life, not only as a technical or regulatory target. It connects research, professional training, school and university education and public awareness into a single pathway, where the same knowledge base speaks to professionals, educators, students and local residents. In this way, METAVASEA builds a community of practice that bridges the north and south of the Mediterranean and supports a fair, people‑centred transition of the shipping sector.

The value of METAVASEA lies not only in its results, but in the way it has been built. Around HELMEPA as coordinator, the partnership operates in concentric circles: 18 partners bringing technical, academic and educational expertise, 83 participating organisations that bring the project to life on ships, in ports and in classrooms, and a wider network of more than 250 stakeholders that ensures geographical reach and dissemination from the northern to the southern Mediterranean. The strength of this collaboration is complementarity: no single partner could, on their own, cover research, training, school education, port innovation and public awareness. Together, they achieve these as one continuous pathway. This composition, where each actor contributes their strength towards a shared, people‑centred goal, is what makes METAVASEA a model of collaboration and not simply a project with many participants.

Among the partners and associated collaborators are international and national organisations such as the World Maritime University, Lloyd’s Register, CYMEPA, CMMI, MIO‑ECSDE, the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping and the Cyprus Chamber of Shipping, the Hellenic Ports Association, the Port Authorities of Thessaloniki, Heraklion and Elefsina, PEPEN, WISTA Hellas and INTERMEPA. Through this network, which engages more than 250 maritime stakeholders – including IBIA, REMPEC, the Arab Academy of Science, Technology and Maritime Transport and others – METAVASEA gains geographical breadth, technical robustness and a strong capacity to disseminate and apply its outcomes in other sea regions as well.

In METAVASEA, participation is not limited to a central project team; it is part of the alliance itself. Decarbonisation gains meaning when the people who live and work with the sea, ports and maritime education are actively involved in shaping the transition.

Participation unfolds at three levels:

a) HELMEPA staff and officers, who organise, coordinate and implement the project’s activities.

b) Volunteers and cooperating NGO networks in Greece, Cyprus and the wider Mediterranean, who support trainings, events and outreach.

c) Teachers, young people, port communities and professionals, who take METAVASEA’s tools and messages and work with them in their own classrooms, organisations and neighbourhoods.

Staff across partner organisations – from shipping companies and ports to universities and NGOs – are mobilised for joint actions: they coordinate seminars, host pilot applications, co‑author educational material and act as “ambassadors” within their institutions. In this way, METAVASEA operates in practice as a community of collaboration and learning: change does not come top‑down, but is built together with those who apply it in their daily work.

Greece and Cyprus, with activities across the Eastern Mediterranean (Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Malta, Tunisia) and international presence at WMU (Sweden), IMO (London), and REMPEC (Malta).

In METAVASEA, success is not only about completed deliverables, but about what changes for people. The results so far can be seen in four main areas:

– Professional empowerment: More than 2,800 seafarers and company staff from 18 countries have been trained on decarbonisation, new fuels, safety and risk management. In their evaluations, they report that they now understand much better what the transition means in practice and feel more prepared to deal with it.

– Knowledge from the field: Around 2,500 people took part in METAVASEA’s open survey. Their responses fed into two detailed reports and a collective volume of 22 chapters authored by 83 contributors – a body of knowledge that shows how professionals and citizens themselves view the transition, not only “experts”.

– Education and society: Approximately 7,500 students and more than 500 teachers have participated in METAVASEA activities, while over 1,250,000 people worldwide have come into contact with the project’s messages through publications, posts and videos. This means that the conversation on shipping and decarbonisation reaches classrooms, ports and neighbourhoods, not only conference rooms.

– Pilot innovation: The Port of Thessaloniki is becoming the first port in the EU and the Mediterranean to test an emission monitoring system for ships in practice, while the METAVASEA app has been developed – a mobile application offering short micro‑learning modules on decarbonisation.

The survey also highlighted some critical points that indicate where further work is needed:

– 59% of seafarers had not received any training on decarbonisation in the last two years.

– 70% identify fatigue as the number one safety issue.

– 74% of companies state that they are already aligned with, or preparing for, the IMO net‑zero targets.

– 4 out of 10 citizens believe that shipping is responsible for more than 70% of global emissions, while in reality its share is around 3%.

These figures are not just statistics; they point to the areas where more action is needed: education and training, protection of health and safety, and honest communication with society. On these points METAVASEA is building the next steps of the alliance and its activities.

For HELMEPA, METAVASEA is not just one more project, but an opportunity to shift role: from a national awareness organisation to the coordinator of a regional alliance for sustainable shipping. Through METAVASEA, HELMEPA has strengthened its capacity to manage multi‑partner collaborations, expanded its network to 83 organisations and enhanced its international visibility at fora such as COP24, MARLOG 15, Maritime Cyprus and Posidonia.

The initiative has also contributed to the growth of HELMEPA Academy, with new certified programmes and masterclasses aligned with STCW and IMO Model Course 1.38, and has reinforced HELMEPA’s research expertise through valuable primary data. At the same time, it has provided a tested collaboration model that can support similar initiatives in other parts of the Mediterranean via the INTERMEPA network. As a result, HELMEPA is becoming a reference point for cooperation on decarbonisation and safety in shipping, with concrete tools, data and training programmes that remain in place beyond the end of the funding period.