The port industy is one of the most competitive in the world, a crutical part of keeping our economy thriving, it employs thousands of people around the globe. There will always be a need for ports: every single day they transport cargo, breakbulk, and people around the world. But all this success does come with downsides, one of them being the problem of emissions that are increasing at tn alarming rate.
Emissions in ports cause a lot of environmental and public health problems. The EPA estimates that around 39 million people in the US live near ports, which means they are at a high risk of air pollution from diesel engines. Studies have shown the CO2 emissions from shipping account for about 2-3% of total global emissions, 5-10% of SOx emissions, and 17-31% for NOx emissions. These figures are only going up, so now is the time to act and fix this problem.
When you look at the ports as a whole, shipping emissions are the cause of most concern. NO2 and CO2 emissions in ports have been correlated to bronchitis symptoms and S02 emissions have been related to respiratory issues abd premature births.
