Assessment of the air quality levels in the King Abdul Aziz Port in Dammam

Abstract

Background: Shipping transportation, loading and uploading, is considered a major source of air pollution worldwide. All the recent studies are concerned with the serious impacts of air pollutants, but, in ports, ship emissions still have a significant deterioration on the air quality levels on a local and regional scale. In ports, the main air pollutants resulting from the ship exhaust emissions are carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The significant health effects of the air pollutants emitted from the industrial activities in ports may include respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and death. Objective: To assess the air quality levels in the King Abdul Aziz Port in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia for compliance with national and international standards. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at the King Abdul Aziz Port where four stations were analyzed for gaseous and particulate air pollutants using certified and calibrated equipment. Result: In comparison with the Recommended Saudi and International Air Quality Guidelines, the concentration levels of NO2, SO2, O3, and VOCs and the levels of PM10 surprisingly exceeded the limit in all the sampling stations in the port, while low levels of CO and CO2 were detected in all the sampling stations. Conclusion: Air quality parameters such as NO2, SO2, O3, VOCs, PM10 were in high significant concentrations from all the stations, especially in cargo loading and unloading platforms and traffic activities. However, further studies are urgently needed to carry out air pollution investigations of the sea port in the kingdom.