Environmental Issues of European Cargo Ports

Christos Bentsos

doi:10.12681/hapscpbs.27664

Abstract

Sea ports and the shipping industry are crucial elements of the international supply chain. Over the last years there has been a growing awareness on the environmental impact of port operations and development. The development of port industry can have a substantial environmental impact. Sustainability is expressed in economic, environmental, and social dimension. The major impacts are on air pollution and especially greenhouse gas emission, the water pollution and the health effects. International policy instruments and governments are crucial factors defining the actions of ports, which are expected to enhance environmental management and reduce the harm of shipping activities. This paper focuses on the environmental dimension and the attempts to reduce the GHG emissions in line with the Paris Agreement and the 2030 UN SDGs. The attention of European Union regulatory environmental framework is laid in the reduction in the sulphur content of certain liquid fuels, the framework for port reception facilities for the delivery of waste from ships, and the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure. The European Green Deal aims to a 90% reduction in the transport emissions by 2050.

Highlights

Sea ports and shipping industry are crucial elements of the international supply chain, as maritime trade volumes reached a total of 11.08 billion tons in 2019 (UNCTAD, 2020)
As port operations impact the environment in terms of water and air quality, the attempts focus to reduce the GHG emissions and the marine pollution from ports in line with the Paris Agreement and the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Ports are motivated to comply with environmental regulations in order to avoid legal affairs, to respond to societal pressures, and improve operational performance

Summary

Introduction

Sea ports and shipping industry are crucial elements of the international supply chain, as maritime trade volumes reached a total of 11.08 billion tons in 2019 (UNCTAD, 2020). Nowadays there has been growing awareness on the environmental impact of port operations and development. Important environmental aspects of ports activities are those of vessel and cargo handling operations, industrial activities in ports, port planning and extension actions, and hinterland accessibility (Lam & Notteboom, 2014). Sustainability is expressed in economic, environmental, and social dimension. According to Serrano et al (2018) the concept of port sustainability comprises four dimensions; the economic, the social, the environmental (Sislian, et al, 2016) and the institutional dimension (Laxe et al, 2017). The Program is led by the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) with some of the world’s major port industry-

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Findings

Conclusions