Towards a sustainable small port – perspectives of boaters and port actors

Involving stakeholders in the context of both business planning and environmental management is
important to ensure joint understanding of prevailing or potential problems and risks, the objectives of
different parties, and the best ways to attain them. This report presents a study concerning the sustainable
development of small ports in the Eastern Gulf of Finland. Ten stakeholders, involving boaters and port
actors, from two countries, Finland and Estonia, were interviewed to analyze how stakeholders
communicate and think about the concept of sustainability and its materialization in the planning and
development of small ports. The report also compares how the definition of sustainability, or thoughts
concerning sustainable development, differ between boaters and port actors. Theoretically speaking, the
concept of sustainable development should consist of a balance between three aspects: environment,
economic and social.
Following an explanation of the three-aspect concept, the interviewed stakeholders accepted the idea of
sustainable development being based on these three aspects; however, the weighting of aspects varied
between the interviewee groups. Although the environmental perspective was important for both boaters
and port actors, boaters valued the environment more socio-ecologically than port actors, who had a
more economically-oriented perspective. The interviewed boaters valued safety the highest,
acknowledging many things should be improved in small ports. Port actors, instead, seemed quite
unaware of the challenges boaters face regarding both safety and maintaining sewage-holding-tank pumpout
stations. These differences indicate the potential need for more active communication between the
two groups.
The analysis concretely shows that practical management actions and investments made in small ports
are typically related to more than one of the three elements of sustainability. Consequently, evaluation of
various decisions’ cost-effectiveness requires holistic planning. Sustainability as an objective is
incompatible with short-term thinking, requiring a longer-time perspective. Observed short contracts of
port actors remarkably hindered sustainability. Interviewees mutually agreed on the high potential of
small ports to bring added value both economically and socially to their surrounding areas. Thus, one
important question is: who should fund the investments to develop the long-term sustainability of ports?
This report consists of a description of the interviewing method and a thorough analysis of the results.
The results lead from recommendations and ideas for the future development of sustainable small ports.