The Flemish Government and its partners have launched a series of intensive roadside inspections to identify and remove vehicles with exceptionally high emissions from roads in and around the Port of Antwerp, commencing May 20.
The campaign combines remote sensing technology with targeted roadside inspections to accelerate the greening of the truck fleet serving the port.
The inspections are being carried out in cooperation with VLABEL, local and federal police, and delegations from Denmark, the Netherlands and Ireland.
GOCA Flanders and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre are supporting inspectors with innovative inspection tools, while the Flemish Environment Agency, Port of Antwerp-Bruges and the European research consortium Net-4-Cities are deploying large-scale remote sensing campaigns to measure vehicle emissions on public roads.
The campaign will run until at least the end of June, with emissions monitored at several locations in and around the port and a minimum of 200,000 vehicles assessed.
The combined approach has demonstrated significantly higher detection rates than conventional methods.
Traditional roadside inspections identified emissions-related problems in approximately 5% of vehicles, whereas inspections guided by remote sensing data have detected problems in more than 80% of cases.
The data collected will provide insights into real-world road traffic emissions and inform both enforcement activities and future air quality policy.
Johan Klaps, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Port of Antwerp-Bruges, described the campaign as providing a much clearer picture of road traffic’s impact on air quality within the port area, while sending a strong signal to non-compliant operators and reinforcing support for the many transport companies and drivers who already meet environmental standards.
