The Short Straits is defined as the ferry crossing from Dover to Calais and Dunkirk. Today, trade across the Short Straits accounts for 6 per cent of the UK GDP, £144billion per annum, 2.4 million truck journeys and 2.1 million car journeys. The Short Straits is strategically important, it carries 33 per cent of all trade with the EU. The Short Straits accounts for 8 per cent of the UK's total maritime emissions. Currently all ferry traffic uses Marine Diesel Oil as its primary source of energy. The Port of Dover, in their own operations, are leading the decarbonisation charge and will be net zero (scope 1 and 2) by 2030\. The ferry operators have started their transition to low carbon. An investment of £250m by P&O Ferries in 2022/2023 forecast a 40 per cent energy reduction compared to convention ferries. A recent announcement by DFDS of an investment of over £800m in new all electric ferries will dramatically reduce the 8 per cent of total UK maritime emissions. As an indication of scale all this investment requires electrical energy, a peak time increase from the current 5 MW to over 160 MW. Vessels will need to recharge each crossing, so the provision of investment in shore-side infrastructure is paramount. Skills needs are changing, tomorrow's engineers will need enhanced and extended electrical, electronic and data science as part of their skill set. Additional teams are needed to support business cases to ensure financial viability as electrification develops. Regulatory needs will change because of electrification, adding new complexity to implementation timescales. This project will prepare for this change now. To provide capacity and plan for infrastructure for further, higher education and private providers. Pulling forward the teams, capacity or material to support this transition. This project will ascertain current demand for new skills and planned training infrastructure between now and 2035, both in quantity, type and numbers. Ascertain an independent perspective and identify training and skills development needs going forward. The outcome will support investment and offer the region new high skilled jobs, based in the UK. As well the project will act as an exemplar for skills development for other ferry electrification projects in the UK and internationally. The project will offer the UK the opportunity to leverage international impact through the development of training programmes for other international ferry operators.

To create and embed an AI augmented digital twin, which will provide simulation of tidal flows, analysis of safe navigation in the Port of Dover, inform future infrastructure investment and support the realisation of strategic growth objectives.

We introduce **PALLETS**, **P**roactive **A**I-powered so**L**utions for **L**ogistics **E**fficiency, **T**ransparency and **S**afety. It is a holistic AI-based analytics platform tailored for the logistics and transport sector to improve operations and address existing bottlenecks that hinder the broader adoption of AI and ML in the field. **Highlights:** 1. **Democratisation of AI in Logistics**: The PALLETS platform is designed to increase transparency and bring secure AI-driven computer vision solutions to stakeholders from different parts of the supply chain, enhancing visibility at its various nodes utilising CCTV cameras 2. **Use cases for SME and large organisations:** * _**Safety**_ **-** Hazard Detection: Identifying and mitigating potentially hazardous events to enhance safety. * _**Efficiency-**_Dwell Time Tracking: Precise measurement of goods or vehicle stay duration for improved operational efficiency. 3\. **Addressing AI Adoption Challenges:** the solution seeks to: * Ease Data and Performance Concerns: By streamlining the ML development cycle from data to model deployment to performance monitoring in production, we automate manual processes and reduce data required for training and developing and also enable faster iterations and continuous improvement. * Enhance Trustworthiness: We introduce privacy and security by design from the onset of solution development - ensuring adoption of best practice, identification and mitigation of potential vulnerabilities in the platform, improving end user trust related to data and AI solution's security and reliability. 4\.**Human-Centric Solution for Dynamic Environment**: designed for user experience for individuals responsible for operations in highly active areas such as ports, warehouses and yards, PALLETS is designed with human centricity at heart to be assistive and empowering, providing relevant and useful information for multitasking personnel in these bustling locations. 5\. **Innovative Technical Architecture**: * Automated ML Pipeline and Analytics Engine: reduces initial on-boarding processes for customers with varying sites, cameras and unique needs for scalability with automated, continuous improvement to achieve solution reliability and cost-effectiveness. * Privacy and security by design: incorporate key security and privacy principles and best practices, addressing vulnerabilities throughout. * Human-in-the-loop Integration: allows user input and actions as part of work processes. * Active Learning & Feedback Loop: AI-assisted data curation for reduced data and faster development. **Potential Impact**: The "PALLETS" project promises enhanced logistics visibility and efficiency, benefiting SMEs and major organisations in the supply chain industry. By addressing AI adoption hurdles and emphasising safety, efficiency, and transparency, the project has the potential to revolutionise logistics and transport operations and safety standards.

In this project the Dover-Calais/Dunkirk Green Corridor consortium focuses on the development and feasibility of implementing a green corridor (GC) between the Port of Dover (PoD) and the Ports of Calais and Dunkirk. The project takes the Dover--Calais/Dunkirk route, as its feasibility case and will investigate viable energy pathways for the corridor providing a business case and delivery plan for the implementation of a GC, based on roll on, roll off (Ro/Ro) car, van, truck, and passenger carrying ferry vessels. PoD is the busiest ferry port in the UK, responsible for 33% of UK-EU trade, and 59% of all UK-EU ferry movements. Therefore, working towards a future where the unique capacity and resilience of the shortest crossing to Europe can be sustainably delivered is of utmost importance to both PoD and the Ports of Calais/Dunkirk, for port customers, as well as the UK. The GCSS project partners will collaborate for eight months to identify and analyse the full value chain and determine viable energy pathway options for both marine and landside vessels and vehicles. A Well-to-Wake and Well-to-Wheel analysis will be completed on all viable energy pathways to assess direct and indirect environmental impacts for each pathway. The analysis will also identify relevant regulations and policy, how a GC would comply with these regulations and identify any missing policy measures that are required to successfully implement a GC. The project will ultimately produce a GC business case and route map that can be used to both scale up the number of zero-emission vessels and corresponding landside infrastructure, but also to attract private sector investment and replicate the corridor elsewhere. The project will not only support PoD's ambition to be carbon net-zero (for scope 1 and 2) by 2025 but also ensures the consortium members, representing the whole port, regional systems, and the investment community can be a part of the first GC. The project will also help support the UK's commitment to the Clydebank Declaration, which was agreed at COP 26, and ultimately help meet the zero emission shipping ambitions of the UK's 'Clean Maritime Plan', envisaging the UK as a global leader in clean shipping by 2050\. It will also allow customers a range of low carbon choices to transport passengers and freight on this vital route.

In this project, the Dover Clean Ferry Power (DCFP) consortium focuses on the development of innovative solutions to accelerate the adoption of (plug in) hybrid or fully electric propulsion vessels in the Short Straits (Dover to Calais and Dunkirk) ferry fleet, with the potential to extend to cruise and cargo operators if appropriate. The project takes the Port of Dover (PoD), the busiest ferry port in the UK, as its feasibility case and investigates alternative, reliable pathways for the provision of electricity for Channel crossing ferries at the PoD over short, medium and long-term planning horizons, ultimately working towards a future where the unique capacity and resilience of the shortest crossing to Europe can be sustainably delivered for the nation. The DCFP project partners will collaborate over seven months to identify the current and future electrical power demands of the ferries operating at the PoD. It will find viable, sustainable emissions-minimising pathways for the on-shore supply of the required demand, with minimum impact on the daily business of the port and its ferries. This project will support the delivery of the Port of Dover Air Quality Action Plan as well as Net Zero delivery for the port, operators and customers. This will ultimately help meet the zero emissions shipping ambitions of UK's 'Clean Maritime Plan', envisaging the UK as a global leader in clean shipping by 2050\.