The impact of northern Adriatic ports container throughput on air quality environmental parameters

This paper seeks to highlight the impact of the increasing container throughput in northern Adriatic ports on air quality. A comparative analysis of air quality is given, which consist of certain environmental parameters at selected measuring stations near the container terminals of the northern Adriatic ports Rijeka, Trieste, Koper, and Venice. The parameters were analyzed based on a limited amount of air quality monitoring data for the port areas. As the port transport sector increases pollutant emissions, the results of these analyzes can also be used to take appropriate measures to reduce these particulate matter emissions. The aim of this paper is to determine the impact of increasing the container throughput within the ports of the northern Adriatic Sea on air quality, based on certain environmental parameters related to the shipping or delivery of containers by road. The results of the research, based on available data, have shown that the increase in container throughput of the northern Adriatic ports has not decreased the air quality of urban areas of the respective port cities. The air quality value of the northern Adriatic ports is substantially below the limits set by the EU Air Quality Directive (2008/50), thus it does not affect the health of the inhabitants of the analyzed cities.