Since 2003 there is a cooperation between the Hydraulic Engineering department of Delft University of Technology and Bulgarian universities. The cooperation focusses on exchange of knowledge and the development of the coast in the area of Varna. Dutch and Bulgarian students get the possibility to gain experience in data collecting, processing and interpreting. Repeating this fieldwork every year in the same area will provide an overview of the coastal development in the Varna area. The students will act as consultants for local hotel owners at the Varna coast. Their work consists of measuring hydraulic aspects in the project area and making a rehabilitation plan for the St. Elias Marina. Data collection consist of inventory material near site, beach measurements, wave measurements, profile measurements, quarry analysis and a bathymetric survey. The rehabilitation plan contains the development of sub-areas in the St. Elias Marina like the peninsula, north beach, south beach and the breakwater.

Due to the environmental awareness of the last decades, the concept of Green Port is introduced and used regularly. Nevertheless, an agreed-upon definition does not exist, leading to the rise of questions about what they are and how to develop them. For that reason, the aim of this research is to analyze and define what a Green Port is and to compare it with a traditional port, in order to develop a clearly-defined, specific complete and timeless methodology to facilitate port planners to get to a sustainable solution. The purpose is that the proposed methodology covers all phases of development, from planning to operation, not only to minimize but to avoid impacts and to maximize benefits. A case study is used to refine it, with the objective of making it applicable to other port projects around the world. By analyzing the existing varied definitions for Green Ports and the current sustainable practices in ports around the world, a definition of a Green Port is proposed, through which a comparison between these ports and traditional ports can be made, optimized with the personal reflection after the elaboration of the proposed methodology. This methodology for developing a greenfield Green Port, covering the stages of planning, design, construction and operation (and management) is based on several top green philosophies in which all criteria that contribute to any green goal are based on. These criteria can be evaluated by means of a proposed evaluation framework, giving a final score to get an insight on how green the port is, which is tested and refined with a case study for the planning phase. As a conclusion of the case study application, several implementation issues of Green Ports have been identified and some possible solutions for the success of the sustainable option are proposed, for which a general shift in mentality is required.